Every mother is well aware of the beauty of naptime. The house becomes silent & for a couple of hours I have time all to myself. One of the most common pieces of advice I got from people as a first-time mom was, "Be sure to sleep when she sleeps." That advice is so logical & I'm sure if I followed it I would be rejuvenated for the last part of my day; the part of my day where I hit a wall at around 2:30 p.m. & have to make a conscious effort to put one foot in front of the other. But during naptime I have limitless options in front of me & I just can't make myself sleep. Instead my mind starts racing a million miles an hour & I'm almost paralyzed with everything that I want to accomplish in this limited amount of time. Suddenly everything I've ever imagined doing is brought to the forefront of my mind. Overly ambitious DIY projects...no problem! Organize the entire house top to bottom...easy! And so it begins, I race around trying to get it all done. And after about an hour and a half it hits me. I'm completely exhausted. And suddenly that advice plays over in my head, "Sleep when she sleeps." And I realize, yes, they were right, I should be sleeping. And as I rest my head on the pillow & slowly drift off to sleep I hear in my dreams a baby chattering in the distance. And then I hear it again & realize it's not a dream at all. And as I roll out of the bed I just rolled into, I promise myself that tomorrow will be different.
