Mama made an observation the other night.

I am usually the one who gets up and puts Jonny back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night. My dad ALSO used to get up the majority of the time with us kids to put us back to sleep (which may have been an odd thing back then when a perfectly capable mother was laying in bed as well). She thought I must take after my dad.

But after I thought about it, that’s not it. Not ENTIRELY it. My dad and I just figured out what it is that makes life livable during the day-time.

RESTED MOTHERS. That’s right, if mommy stays up with the baby at night, not only did she carry said child through 9 months and “X-hours” of labor, now she is up rocking the child back to sleep while daddy gets his undisturbed, snoring like a chainsaw, 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

If mommy were to stay up at night with the baby, come morning-time, daddy had BETTER not ask for breakfast or coffee from mommy, or ask to go running while mommy watches the baby some more, or anything requiring mommy to “watch the baby for a bit more.” Yep, in the eyes of a mommy who has hardly slept at night, the moment daddy wakes up, he has already done something wrong. He slept all night. Mommy did not.

Now, if daddy stays up with the baby, mommy gets her sleep, the heavens part, the sun shines and life is BEAUTIFUL.

Sacrificing a few..ish hours of sleep is but a small price to pay for a mommy who is well rested. For those who are not parents yet…read carefully.

Lesson to be learned here, in the words of countless men (mostly who I see on the news) who have celebrated their 50th, 60th, and 70th anniversaries….the secret to staying together for so long is:

“Happy Wife… Happy Life.”