Night Night
Last night H had to go to a friend's funeral, and I stayed home with the boys. Amazingly putting them to bed went quite well. I got the baby to sleep, then in 30 minutes managed to get Colin through the bath-book-bed routine and off to the land of Nod. And both boys stayed asleep until after their father got home.
Tonight I was flying solo again (daddy got free last-minute tickets to a Yankees game), but sadly things were not so smooth this time.
The evening started off OK. H left for the game around 6:00 and after a few minutes of disappointment ("Where's Daddy?") I was able to distract Colin with Play-doh after which we had dinner, then he watched a video (Preschool Prep: Meet the Shapes) while I nursed the baby. Ryan nodded off and I took Colin out for a half hour play session with the neighborhood kids.
Around 8:00 I herded Colin home, and thankfully the baby was fast asleep so I put him in his jiggle-chair and went to get Colin to bed. We made it through the bath process, and his book ("Hop on Poppa Bear" aka Hop On Pop) but then the train derailed. The baby started crying, which rapidly progressed to hysterical sobbing so I knew I wasn't going to have time to get Colin to sleep. I went and got the baby, but Colin followed me so now I was back to square one.
I tried nursing the baby while sitting in bed reading to Colin, hoping that I could get both boys to sleep. Fat chance! Ryan ate his fill, but then started crying again and Colin showed absolutely no interest in sleep. I kept trying but the baby wouldn't comply and his big brother wasn't any better.
I eventually tried changing locations, moving from Colin's bed to our bedroom so I could sit propped up (lights out) and try and work some magic. Colin snuggled in with me, but the baby would not stop sobbing so there was no way Colin was going to be able to fall asleep. Being a good big brother, Colin kept asking what was wrong with the baby and would gently caress Ryan's head, but to no avail... Ryan would not be consoled. He finally gave me a giant "burp with benefits" but that still didn't fix him and I ended up having to nurse him back to sleep. Once things quieted down, after only 90 minutes and two locations, both boys were finally asleep. PHEW!
I went downstairs and brought Ryan down with me knowing he'd need to eat again before turning in for the night, and took advantage of the quiet time. While the boys dozed I washed the pots and pans from dinner, loaded the dishwasher, caught up on my email, and took the dog out. By then it was time to try and feed the baby again. And then I heard a tiny voice from upstairs.... "Mama? Maamaaaa... where arrrrrre you?"
I headed back up, and managed to get Colin back to sleep while nursing Ryan. Then went to try and get the cat fed before I turned in. As I neared the top of the stairs I heard... URK! URK! URK! The cat was puking. Great.
I cleaned up the mess, then went to get Ryan changed into a clean diaper and his pajamas (I didn't want to do this upstairs lest he cry and wake Colin). I got Ryan out of his clothes and half-way into his pajamas when he spit up... all over his sleeve. Since he had now soaked his pajamas I re-undressed him and went back up to get new pajamas. When I got back down I started the pajama process again but Ryan wasn't done. This time instead he spit up all over me. Great. Lovely. Ick.
Back upstairs again (who needs a Stairmaster???) I cleaned myself up, got dressed in new pajamas and headed back downstairs for Ryan. Finally we were both in clean pajamas and I went to sit down for a moment... and... stepped into a puddle of spit-up that I didn't realize was on the living room floor. AAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!! I put the baby down and hopped into the kitchen to wipe down my foot and then clean the floor. Again.
I am officially done. I am giving up on today. It is nearly 1AM, I'm sleep deprived, the baby will undoubtedly wake me up again at 4AM, 5AM and 6AM (as he did last night), and I've cleaned up more multi-species puke than I care to deal with today.
Night-night world. Please make tomorrow a better day - I could use it!
Tonight I was flying solo again (daddy got free last-minute tickets to a Yankees game), but sadly things were not so smooth this time.
The evening started off OK. H left for the game around 6:00 and after a few minutes of disappointment ("Where's Daddy?") I was able to distract Colin with Play-doh after which we had dinner, then he watched a video (Preschool Prep: Meet the Shapes) while I nursed the baby. Ryan nodded off and I took Colin out for a half hour play session with the neighborhood kids.
Around 8:00 I herded Colin home, and thankfully the baby was fast asleep so I put him in his jiggle-chair and went to get Colin to bed. We made it through the bath process, and his book ("Hop on Poppa Bear" aka Hop On Pop) but then the train derailed. The baby started crying, which rapidly progressed to hysterical sobbing so I knew I wasn't going to have time to get Colin to sleep. I went and got the baby, but Colin followed me so now I was back to square one.
I tried nursing the baby while sitting in bed reading to Colin, hoping that I could get both boys to sleep. Fat chance! Ryan ate his fill, but then started crying again and Colin showed absolutely no interest in sleep. I kept trying but the baby wouldn't comply and his big brother wasn't any better.
I eventually tried changing locations, moving from Colin's bed to our bedroom so I could sit propped up (lights out) and try and work some magic. Colin snuggled in with me, but the baby would not stop sobbing so there was no way Colin was going to be able to fall asleep. Being a good big brother, Colin kept asking what was wrong with the baby and would gently caress Ryan's head, but to no avail... Ryan would not be consoled. He finally gave me a giant "burp with benefits" but that still didn't fix him and I ended up having to nurse him back to sleep. Once things quieted down, after only 90 minutes and two locations, both boys were finally asleep. PHEW!
I went downstairs and brought Ryan down with me knowing he'd need to eat again before turning in for the night, and took advantage of the quiet time. While the boys dozed I washed the pots and pans from dinner, loaded the dishwasher, caught up on my email, and took the dog out. By then it was time to try and feed the baby again. And then I heard a tiny voice from upstairs.... "Mama? Maamaaaa... where arrrrrre you?"
I headed back up, and managed to get Colin back to sleep while nursing Ryan. Then went to try and get the cat fed before I turned in. As I neared the top of the stairs I heard... URK! URK! URK! The cat was puking. Great.
I cleaned up the mess, then went to get Ryan changed into a clean diaper and his pajamas (I didn't want to do this upstairs lest he cry and wake Colin). I got Ryan out of his clothes and half-way into his pajamas when he spit up... all over his sleeve. Since he had now soaked his pajamas I re-undressed him and went back up to get new pajamas. When I got back down I started the pajama process again but Ryan wasn't done. This time instead he spit up all over me. Great. Lovely. Ick.
Back upstairs again (who needs a Stairmaster???) I cleaned myself up, got dressed in new pajamas and headed back downstairs for Ryan. Finally we were both in clean pajamas and I went to sit down for a moment... and... stepped into a puddle of spit-up that I didn't realize was on the living room floor. AAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!! I put the baby down and hopped into the kitchen to wipe down my foot and then clean the floor. Again.
I am officially done. I am giving up on today. It is nearly 1AM, I'm sleep deprived, the baby will undoubtedly wake me up again at 4AM, 5AM and 6AM (as he did last night), and I've cleaned up more multi-species puke than I care to deal with today.
Night-night world. Please make tomorrow a better day - I could use it!
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