my life: when the day begins at 4.46am

It's 10.35am on a Sunday morning and I'm already exhausted. Our day started at precisely 4.46am when Noah decided that enough was enough when it came to sleep. Lucky that we were staying at my parents house for the night (since Rob is away visiting his family), so I got to go back to bed at 6am for another few hours, but it still already feels like it should almost be dinnertime.

Somewhere in my delirious state when I felt like cursing the sun for rising so early, I thought back to an awesome article I read this week on Daily Life about the realities and competitiveness of motherhood. I must admit that I found it somewhat comforting to know that for most of us, life isn't always sunshine and roses.

I find articles like this so refreshing. It can sometimes seems as though everyone you know leads the perfect life, and often it's because it is the only part of their life you see (I'll blame the endless Facebook status updates and beautiful photos of holidaying friends on Instagram!). Sure, I'll always be one of the first to jump up and say that I love being a mum, and that it's been the best experience of my life to date - being a naturally positive person I can't help it. But I'm also the first to tell anyone who asks what the reality can be like. Yes its tiring (amongst other things!), but I wouldn't change it for anything - except maybe sleep from time to time, but that's what grandparents are for!

Thinking back to this post I made a few weeks ago, I can definitely see why comments like these made by Miranda Kerr can sometimes grate on people. Although I agree with what she was saying in this instance, there's definitely a feeling of superiority when someone talks about their seemingly perfect life. We all have our ideals about parenting but we also need to be prepared and supported when our reality turns out completely differently. To me, the only thing worse than sleep-deprivation is a feeling of inadequacy, and frankly there's no place for that in parenthood.

Word.

So if we all have the same goal when it comes to raising children (assuming that everyone wants theirs to be happy and healthy!), then the fact that we all do it differently really shouldn't be an issue. Sleep-deprivation can make you do crazy things, but being judgmental or feeling inadequate when things don't always go according to plan ain't helping anyone. That being said, if anyone's got any tips on how to make the sun rise just a little bit later, I'd love to hear it.

P.S. If reading about this kind of thing is totally up your alley then you'll love my friend Jacqui's awesome (and honest!) blog Talking to Ladybugs.