Guest Blogger- Suzanne at Bebeh Blog

Well, summer is officially here as of a couple of weeks ago, and that means that my family's business will be getting busy anytime now. That means, that my time to write/blog will become limited for awhile, but to fill in the gaps, I asked some of my favorite bloggers to write up some great posts for you all to read! Everybody wins! I hope you enjoy these ladies and their posts!

Summer Feature: Suzanne from Bebeh Blog 

First up is Suzanne from Bebeh Blog.  She is the momma to Evan who is 2, and Caroline who is 6.5 months old. Basically, she is one of my heroes as we venture closer to baby girl's due date. Her posts always leave my laughing, but mostly I know that as a mother, I am not alone in certain situations! Enjoy!

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My baby is six and a half months old and has never slept in her crib. Here’s the part where you THINK I am going to rave about the benefits of co-sleeping and family beds and how it’s so natural and cozy and easy and blahdy blah blah. Nope.

Caroline sleeps in her swing. She swings all night long on the other side of our bedroom, peaceful and quiet. Sometimes she squawks once or twice to be fed and I shuffle over to my nice comfy chair for a quick nursing session, but then back she goes into her swing and back I go into my gloriously child-free king sized bed. The beauty of the swing is that even if she thinks 2 am is play time I can hand her a teething toy and say PEACE OUT MUNCHKIN and the rocking will eventually but her back to sleep. 

When I had my first baby, Evan, in 2009 I was WOEFULLY unprepared for the exhaustion – although, really, how could you be prepared for only getting 90 minute blocks of rest with 4 hours of walking, rocking, shushing, swaddling and nursing in between for months and months at a time? There’s no job in the world that demanding, because no one would do it for less than a bazillion dollars and a magical unicorn. It took 4 months of sleeping on the couch in shifts before we even made it upstairs, where Evan took one look at the co-sleeper and started screaming like I had just threatened to feed him to rabid badgers. But I KNEW I was SUPPOSED to sleep near my baby (but not WITH my baby) and was determined to follow that advice no matter what (thanks for nothing, pediatrician). Every time I fell asleep with him tucked under my arm I woke up feeling guilty as well as stiff-necked and sore. I was so unsure of my own instincts and decisions I made things harder on all of us. But, hey, that’s what being a first time mom is all about, amirite?

By the time Caroline was born, the only thing I knew was the “right” decision was whatever got me enough sleep to chase a toddler all day. I was willing to co-sleep, bed-share, buy a fancy baby hammock, or blow two grand on an all organic cotton crib mattress made by blind nuns in Tunisia if only the baby would SLEEP. It took exactly two nights home for us to realize she loved the swing. My husband – thrilled to avoid Cranky Tired Wife this time around – moved it up to our bedroom and it’s been there ever since. When we wore out the motor of the first swing, we briefly considered trying to make the transition to the co-sleeper (aka my $150 laundry basket) or the crib (aka my $100 toy storage bin).

Instead, we bought another swing. Why mess with a good thing?

In the end, all that matters is that everyone sleeps, so we can be the cute, happy, fun family I pretend we are on my blog.

If she’s still sleeping in the swing a year from now, THEN we can talk.

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Hilarious, right? 

You can find Suzanne's blog here, and on Twitter you can follow her- @bebehblog 

I promise you won't be disappointed!