Not found in our home: Do not ring the doorbell!

Looking back, as a new parent this sign just makes me laugh:

 

Photo from www.scarymommy.com

 

 

It's true. I use to cringe every time someone rang the doorbell or knocked at our door - ESPECIALLY if it took me 45 minutes just to get my girl down for a nap. Then something hit me:

I can't live like this! 

We decided not to put up a sign on our door that basically tells outsiders what they can or cannot do. It is life. If the mailman comes, so be it. If neighbours come over, so be it. Most people that come to our door know that they can text us in case of emergency and we know to expect them. In fact, my neighbour's grandchildren came by our place the other day asking (quite loudly) to play with our girl while she was still napping.


Today, our daughter naps through pretty much anything - including loud windstorms and even an earthquake! Not a flinch, literally. We've had her window open for the last couple of weeks since it's been warm out. Kids play in the streets loudly, and even with the windows closed I can still hear them, what with my poor hearing! The dogs next door bark almost every night without fail. It was an adjustment at first for Rachel. I had to reassure her that I was around, and that if there was any real trouble, I'd come for her. I started off with doing household chores in front of her - i.e. vacuuming, etc so she'd know what the sounds are, and that it was nothing to wake up over. We even played with the doorbell a few times and that helped the transition. Today, I'm also able to have normal voiced conversations during naptime with my parents and adult friends without having to go "shhhhhhhhh."

It's strange I bring this topic up because for those who are hard of hearing, nothing, and I mean, NOTHING will wake us up. Since we have a child who can hear, it has made me more aware of how sound can be disruptive to the sleep pattern. It was not something I thought of on a running basis before having children. Then again, it's amazing to me how adaptable children are. They get used to noise (or no noise in my case). Daddy used to have to be super, super quiet in the morning when getting ready for work. Now I *think* he just goes ahead and does whatever he has to do. The reason why I said I *think* is because I can't even hear what he's doing!!!

Now that we're about to have our second child, I'm actually a little curious as to what her reaction will be to the baby's cries. Naturally, we'll tell her that crying is the baby's way of communicating with us... and... go with the flow!