Girl, keep the book

My name is Jamnetty and I am a writer and blogger over at www.wemadeit.us

My mission is to encourage mothers to speak their truth and be themselves, unapologetically.

The Wonder Weeks has been a huge part of my introduction to motherhood and I would love to help bring even more awareness to the book and brand. it has really gotten me through some difficult moments of doubt and inadequacy as a mother.

I remember browsing through the parenting books at Barnes and Noble, 33 weeks pregnant and ready to be the best mother in the universe. Fast forward to today and all I can say is girl, keep the book!

Taking me back to his newborn days

Last night, my son, Liam, who is fourteen months old woke up every two hours on the dot. The best part? This has been going on for about a week.

One day my little bean was sleeping ten to eleven hours through the night and the next he was taking me back to his newborn days.

I try not to complain because sleep deprivation is a big part of motherhood, but when things change out of the blue, as they always do with children, and you are left questioning everything, you lose some of your already minimal sanity.

Is he teething? Is he not eating enough at night? Is he taking too many naps during the day? Is he having nightmares? Did I create a bad sleep association to his bottle?

Does he miss me because I work too much? Is he not active enough during the day? Is he going through a growth or developmental spurt?

I had so many questions and zero answers. Don’t you wish we had some sort of guide to get us through these times of uncertainty? Girl, keep the book and you will!

I was ready

That day at Barnes and Noble, I bought The Wonder Weeks and I ate it all up. I spent my last few weeks of pregnancy learning about the leaps and what to expect and all of the things I could do to help my little one breeze through them.

Once my son was born, I was ready. Then a friend of mine became pregnant and I told her she needed this book more than anything so I gifted it to her.

A few months later, I found myself desperately seeking answers for my baby’s behavior.

I found out about the app and downloaded it. It gave me a lot of information, but not all of the details that I knew I could find in the book.

I contacted my friend and asked her for the book and she told me that she had gifted it to another friend who was expecting. I was not mad because I knew everyone needed this book, but I kept thinking to myself, everyone needs this book BUT so do I!

The stormy weather passed and my son was back to normal and I needed space on my phone so I deleted the app.

I need the book

What do you think happened next? We entered some troubling times and I had so many questions so I downloaded the app again and got some answers but not all, of course. This time, I synced the app to my calendar so that I could get reminders of when the leaps would begin.

I kept thinking about the book and how much I needed it, but my husband and I were on a very strict budget, so all I could do was download the chapter for Leap 5 in the app. This was not ideal, but it worked.

Entering leap 9

Today, as I write this, I realize how insane I was. You know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.

Had I kept my precious Wonder Weeks book, I would have had the answers I was looking for at my fingertips.

And if I had, then last night while I cried from sleep deprivation and doubt, I wouldn’t have been so surprised by the friendly reminder I received from my Calendar at 21:00.

Last night I found out that my son had just entered Leap Nine and with that knowledge, I laid on my bed and laughed at all the heartache I could have avoided. So If you could just take one piece of parenting advice from me, it is this.

Get The Wonder Weeks and girl, keep the book!

Kind Regards,
Jamnetty
@jamnetty