It started with nap training.

You see, it’s impossible to be an entrepreneur when you have a baby that does not nap. Notice I said “impossible.” Not hard, not challenging, IMPOSSIBLE.

And frankly, when you have had this “idea” in your mind for years, that you were going to be the DO IT ALL mom and your babies would be great sleepers because you sleep trained and they will never eat processed sugar because eat clean, well, you get the gist. That little delirious moment, does not EVER happen.

First of all, Joey’s first real food was a helping of homemade whipped cream, and sure, he sleeps at night time (I know, I know, thank the good Lord), but c’mon, HE DOES NOT NAP.

So, Friday. That’s what I was getting at. I needed to finish working. Like, had to, no excuses, if-this-doesn’t-get-done-I’m-getting-fired type work.

So I laid Joey down for an afternoon “nap,” which I should know by now does not really ever happen, but hey, desperate times. He proceeded to cry, as per usual. My soothing methods did not work, but of course, if I held him, he was fine. Awake, and fine.

Needless to say, this was my first Cry It Out moment. So I let him cry in the swing.

YOU GUYS. It took 47 minutes for him to stop. Don’t worry, I did the whole soothe but don’t pick him up thing, replaced his pacifier which he continued to spit out, sang a song, touched his face, the whole bit. FORTY SEVEN MINUTES.

He finally stopped crying, and was quiet, then feel asleep for a measly 20 minutes.

We all know, you can’t work with a screaming baby, at least not me. Not good work anyway. And after that crying ordeal, the 20 minutes of sleep time was spent with me crying, on the couch, getting my shit together.

Adam came home, kissed my tears away and reminded me that we were indeed supposed to go Christmas tree hunting that afternoon. So, I finished my work while Adam and Joey went outside to work on something, and then we bundled up and headed up west.

We stopped by the ranch to pick up Mom, and quickly give Joey a bottle. By now, mind you, it was 4 pm. It’s dark by 4:45, and we are headed to the mountains.

Adam, sweet sweet Adam, says that we can go Saturday, and instead, let’s just drink some tea with Mom for a bit, and then we can go visit the guys at the duck club for dinner. This sounded FABULOUS to me.

But then, again, sweet sweet Adam and saintly Mom, had the grand idea to look around the ranch for a tree. Worst case, we take a fun ride around the ranch in the buggy and maybe we will see a tree.

So we did. We bundled Joey up in the pack and climbed in the buggy and off we went.

First of all, I don’t even remember a time when the ranch was green before Christmas, so #thankgodforrain, and it was Joey’s first home ranch outing.

After a few deer sightings, reminding Adam not to drive off the road and a mini-freak-out that maybe we’d see the bear, we found a few “gray pines,” aka, Digger Pines, that would fit the bill for our Christmas tree.

Y’all, I really didn’t not want a digger pine for Christmas. But the cuteness of my hubby, convincing me that it was, in fact, cute, and my momma’s joy about us having cut a tree from the ranch, warmed my heart. So we are now sporting a Gray Pine (as we are calling it, because Digger Pine – I now understand – is a derogatory term) in our sweet little home for Christmas.

The result of Friday? Well, we are now nap training Joey, because I am convinced it is possible to have a baby that naps. Mostly because I want to work, and I’m not ready to send Joey to daycare yet. So far so good – three naps yesterday and only 4 minutes of crying. #winning

And we have our Christmas tree, but an even better memory to hold.

Merry Christmas, tribe. May the naps and Christmas trees be forever in your favor.