Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Holidays are Upon Us....Now What?!

Ok, I would love for other Mommies (new and experienced) to throw out any and all advice/tips/experience my way for this post!  With the holidays rapidly approaching, I'm a little concerned about naps and schedules and how to maintain some sort of normality.  I'm not really a schedule Nazi, but we have a pretty good sleep and feeding system that works well for us.  Sure sometimes the naps are off an hour or so from one day to the next, but we have a general outline. 
I know EVERYONE wants to see the baby, but we have a lot of family and I've already made it very clear that we just can't do every.single.thing this year.  It was too much for just Edwin and I, so I know it will be too much with Peyton.  We have already planned out our Christmas stuff with our parents and my Grandma so we don't have to mess around with figuring out who's doing what on what day and when.  There will be a lot more family coming to us this year so Peyton can go down for naps and not get so overwhelmed with all the chaos (plus we'll have more space in the new house).  But there are also a LOT of holiday festivities that won't be at our house.  We have 1 day with 2 events back to back in the afternoon/evening and one is to the East and one is to the West.  They're both with family that we only see once or so a year and most of them have never met Peyton (even though they all live close enough to come visit us, but that's a whole other story). 
But somehow naps have to be inserted in to days like that.  Peyton can stay up for a lot longer between naps now that she could a month or so ago, but we definitely can't function off 1 nap or 20 mins here and there....when my girl naps, she naps!  So what do other Mom's do during the holidays with small babies?

4 comments:

  1. i'm posting here b/c i would like to see the responses, too... i don't have a whole lot of advice (since i'm in the same boat!)... but i do know that you can't do but so much and people HAVE to understand...

    i'm hoping eden will nap well in her carseat (which she usually does) when we are going "here" and "there" all at the same time! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I take a pack and play with me (I keep it in the trunk)...I set it up in a quiet room wherever we're at and put Wesley down at his normal naptime. He may cry for a few minutes, but he usually settles down. Otherwise, it's napping in the car, and that doesn't always give him enough sleep and throws off his schedule if it happens two days in a row.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My advice would be to rotate years. If they can't come to see you- then you'll see them every other. It's only fair to put the babies first. If they are off schedule & unhappy than Mommy's not happy... and if Momma ain't happy... well you know the rest! Not to mention the amount of germs that float around this time of year, and the "let's put everything in my mouth" stage. Babies need their rest to stay healthy, we ALL do. & if one in the family doesn't get it- it spills over in ten-folds! Don't worry about pleasing everyone... You can't! Just enjoy her first magical season at her pace... and take LOTS of pictures. This is YOUR first holiday season as a family! =) Love & Miss you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm thinking the same thing you are, a girls gotta nap! I have a hard time letting go of the napping timeslots because it almost messes up the whole day. Ruthie won't nap in her carseat unless we're driving (and thats rare). I'm curious how its going to go also, I think I'm just going to try and keep as much of her normal schedule as possible, but who knows!! Good Luck, can't wait to hear all about Peyton's holidays!

    ReplyDelete