Things are very different this time around. Two babies later, and I’ve learned not to watch the clock, but to marvel in my baby’s tiny features no matter how many times she wakes.
She is cuddled and carried to a point where she sometimes grizzles until we put her down.
When we do, she kicks her chubby legs with gusto, safe in the knowledge she’ll be scooped up when she needs to be. She sleeps curled, koala-like, in the crook of my arm. Some nights she wakes as little as twice, others she spends more time attached than not. And when she sleeps, I don’t spend each moment searching for answers to my baby’s “problems”. I sleep.
I’m still bone-tired, and with three children, there’s more than enough love to drown in. I’ve just learned to swim.
A professional writer and a children’s author, when she isn’t at her trusty laptop, Haylee Hackenberg is strolling through forests and finding excuses to visit the beach. Haylee lives in sunny Brisbane, Australia, with her family, and her many rescue animals. You can follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
