The return trip not so much. We live the house sometime around 5:30 am this morning. The fusspot was exceedingly well-behaved (no crying) on both flights, but only because I kept a breast firmly inserted into her mouth for the better part of the day. And then we got home. And the breakfast dishes were still out from the day we left (6 days ago). There were still cheerios under the table. I didn't really expect JD to have time for a deep cleaning, but a clean table and 5 minutes of vacuuming would have made a huge difference. And of course, he's sick today. And still stuck at work. But we were gone for 6 days. When he called to tell me he was sick, I spent a good 5 minutes thinking about how I could do all of the overnights tonight and tomorrow and let him rest. Cue-music-for-moment-of-sudden-realization: he had 6 nights home alone. Sans baby. And he didn't even waste the time to vacuum. Huh.
Speaking of the great sleep regression, last night the fusspot only woke twice (between 8 pm and 5 am, I must add. Not exactly a full night) and that was the first time in over 2 weeks that she's been up less than 4 times. And since we don't let her CIO, that means that at least 4 times a night for the past 2 weeks I've gotten up to get her water and sing to her and keep her company. Needless to say, my friend was not impressed. I really don't want to write anything too critical because she is a dear friend and I was well aware that we would have different parenting styles, but it was so different. They put their baby in bed at 8 pm and get him out a little after 8 am. No, he doesn't sleep through the night, they just leave him in his own room 'to train him.' And the little guy was so entirely non-chalant about being left (even thought he is not in any type of daycare). It was such a contrast with the fusspot who runs over to greet me every time I return from the bathroom.
More on our trip later, but for now I'm off to obsess about whether we'll still have a healthy heartbeat at the NT scan (which needless to say JD forget, so I'll be alone most likely). It's midday tomorrow, and then I have days of work to catch up on if I can stay awake.
In the meantime, I leave you with a (generic) photo of our vacation destination. It's nice to leave the city sometimes:
And life in the suburbs:
2 comments:
Ah... sleep. The hot button issue of parenthood. Pumpkin co-slept until 14 weeks. Then very rocky months of good night/bad night until a miracle at 12 months and 1 week when she started sleeping. All through. Which I am grateful for every. single. night. But it is rough- we are semi-attachment, but mainly baby-led. In that a little bit of CIO is a good thing- but it never seems to last more than 2minutes before either she goes back to sleep or I go in for a cuddle. They are little like this for such a short time that I want to savor it. But every parent & every style is different- and oh so personal. It is tough to be a visitor in a different style of household.
I am glad you had a good vacation & I am sorry you came home to 6 day old dishes! I know the hubby is unique in his obsessive cleanliness & even he drives me nuts with the dishes in the sink!
Good luck tomorrow- I'll be thinking of you- after a big interview for a new job- I am off the rest of the day & will be checking blogs for updates!
ah, husbands... yeah, H told me the other day that he just needed 15 minutes to himself when he comes home from work. You know, before he parks both boys with me to do an hour or two of unnecessary chores/nighttime hygene routine stuff. And he looked totally baffled when I replied that I, too, would love 15 minutes to myself when he gets home. I hear all the time about how stressed and tired he is, and I get that things have changed for him, but seriously. Unless I schedule it way in advance, I don't have more than 5-10 minutes during the ENTIRE DAY when I don't have a baby in my arms. I pee while holding a baby. I make lunch while holding a baby. I do laundry while holding a baby. I comment on blogs while holding two babies. My "down time" is when I get the luxury of doing any one of these things with just one baby in my hands instead of two.
After pointing this out, he suddenly thought it was acceptable to give me half an hour to myself to run this past weekend. It was a blissful half-hour.
And yes. Just know that when you're up at night, I'm probably up with you! H actually greeted me this morning by angrily saying "Last night SUCKED!" And when I asked him why, he said, "Hen.ry kept waking up!" Um, yeah, he did, and then I took him out of H's arms and nursed him while H slept. And then gave him back to H who then held him for 30 seconds before acting frustrated because the baby didn't instantly fall back to sleep. Before bed, he was reading while holding the baby and he kept getting upset because the baby was fussing, and he would stop reading, half-heartedly calm the baby, and then go right back to ignoring him again, which would make him start fussing again. Dude, when I ask you to hold the baby, I mean that you should hold the baby and, you know, pay attention to him, too! We'll see how much longer co-sleeping works. I'm just not sure how to deal with both babies by myself at night, but I also don't want to deal with coddling my hypersensitive husband every time he feels like things don't go exactly how he thinks they should.
Um, okay. Blog hijacking over. Apparently, I have a lot to say about the husband's role in the child care process...
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