*****
3:20am: I wake up a bit and Thea is still asleep so I check my phone. I do a little happy dance and lay back down. She went to bed at 9:15pm the night before, and I'll definitely take 6+ hour stretches.
4:24am: Thea starts fussing, and though she isn't fully awake, my boobs are like rocks and I figure it is only a matter of time before they start leaking, so I decide to feed her. I try leaning back so my letdown doesn't drown her, but she is acting weird and fidgety. Eventually I pop her off to burp her, and she poops. That would be why she was fidgety. I change her diaper, reswaddle her and try to feed her some more. She is thrashing around at my chest and still acting weird, so I figure maybe she is full. I stand up and try to bounce and sway her back to sleep. She spits up a ton. And again. And again. At this point Christopher wakes up. He holds her while I search out some dish towels because we're out of burp cloths. After she is all wiped down I try to bounce and sway again. And she poops again. Now I know I'm in for it.
I lay her down on the bed and unswaddle her. While she finishes doing her business I go to the bathroom and then I get out some running clothes. If I can manage to get her back to sleep in a reasonable amount of time I'll just get my run out of the way. I think going back to sleep would only make me more tired. I get her diaper changed and swaddle her up again. As soon as I pick her up she spits up every where. And then she spits up some more. And some more. And some more. For the love child can you keep anything down?
5:25am: Since I feel like I'm in for the long haul I move to her room so that Chris can get a little more sleep. I try laying her across my lap and bouncing her, but she isn't having it. When I stand back up with her she spits up yet again. I grab a receiving blanket to use as a burp cloth, and pace around the room with her a bit. She is still squirmy, and five minutes later she spits up everywhere again. I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with her, so I unswaddle her and lay her in her crib for a bit. After maybe 15 minutes I can tell she has had enough so I swaddle her back up and try to coax her to sleep. She spits up again. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. I don't know how many burp cloths, dish towels and blankets I've gone through. Thankfully that is the last of it, and she falls asleep on my shoulder just after 6am. I head back to my room with her. Two minutes later Ryann opens the door and says she isn't tired. I kick Christopher and he gets up with her.
6:14am: I lay Thea down in the Rock 'n Play. She squirms quite a bit and I worry she will wake up. While waiting for her to settle the power flickers. That's weird. But Thea seems to be more soundly asleep so I leave the room. I gather clothes for Ryann and fix her bed. I seem to have time on my hands, but probably not enough to squeeze in my run (and I'm still worried that Thea will wake back up), so I opt to make some muffins. Why not? While they're baking I get some dishes put away.
7:15am: Christopher heads out the door for work and I sit on the couch with Ryann. She reads her Accelerated Reader selection for the day (a book about sheep, she picks the funniest books in my opinion, but she is learning a lot!), and after that I start reading her library book to her, a Clifford book. A few pages in I hear Elsie come out of her room, so I run up the stairs to grab her before she yells down the stairs to me. After finishing the rest of the book I get some breakfast for Elsie. Then I turn on a show for Ryann (The Cat in the Hat) and fix her hair. Elsie asks me for some blueberries. Once those are on her plate I run upstairs to get her clothes. When I come back down Ryann says she'd like some cantaloupe, which of course means Elsie needs some too. Once they are finished with their fruit I get Elsie dressed and fix her hair.
7:57am: My saint of a mother walks through the door. She has come over nearly every morning since school started to make sure Ryann gets on the bus without me completely losing my mind. The show ends and the girls ask my mom to read some books to them. Ryann reads her AR book again. Then it is time to get shoes on to wait for the bus. I want both girls to come outside with me so I can take a picture of them in their matching shirts. While I'm locating all our stuff, Ryann decides it is funny to lick a muffin on the counter. Stupid stuff like that makes me so mad. I ask her if she intends to eat the muffin and she tells me no. Too bad, that'll be her breakfast for tomorrow! Eventually we make it outside, take the picture and Ryann gets on the bus.
8:22am: Elsie and I head back inside. We head upstairs along with my mom to hang out in the playroom for a little bit. The fact that Thea is still asleep is really really throwing me off. I don't know what to do! Usually she is awake in the morning, and ready for a nap when it is time to take Elsie to school so we go for a walk. But at this point she won't be ready to sleep so that won't work. I go through a few scenarios in my head, and ultimately settle on my mom taking Elsie to school. That way I can let Thea sleep, but if she wakes up I can feed her.
8:52am: Grammy and Elsie head out the door. I take a minute to locate all the dirty burp cloths and dish towels around the house. Thea begins to stir so I head in to get her. It has been 4.5 hours since I fed her and I'd rather grab her while she is just stirring then wait until she is full on pissed. Shortly after I sit down to feed her my mom comes back. Once I am done feeding Thea (and changing a nasty poopy diaper!) I get myself changed to go running.
9:35am: I give Thea a kiss, tell my mom thanks, and high tail it out of there. The first minute or so I'm all woohoo running! I love running! This is gonna be great! And then I'm quickly reminded that I am no where near the shape I used to be in. My legs feel so heavy. Extra pounds + poor diet + lack of sleep doesn't make for the easiest run. But I push through and keep going. At the first mile my phone app goes off "1 mile. Split pace: 9:22." Well that certainly doesn't seem right. Lately my first mile has been in the 10-11 minute range. Sometimes it gets off at the very beginning but usually the second mile is accurate. So when she spouts off and 8:33 at mile two, I'm pretty sure app chick is drunk. I feel like I'm running faster than usually, but not THAT fast. Plus I'm ahead of where I usually hit two miles. I estimate my app is off by .2 miles and plan to tack that on at the end. The third mile is hard, I'm so tired, but so stubborn, so I finish it. It says I covered 3.31 miles in 31:51. So I guess a 5k in that time. Certainly not my best, but I did it when I didn't really want to. I didn't give up. That is what counts.
10:11am: As soon as I open the door to the house I can hear Thea screaming. Ruh roh. My mom says she has been fine the whole time, and just started crying seconds before I got back. Silly girl. She seems very tired. And then we spot another damn wasp!! The day before there had been two wasps in my house. No clue where they are coming in from but what the hell? It is stressing me out. I definitely don't do bugs of any kind. Neither does my mom. But she handles the situation and manages to kill it (as she did with the other two the day before) while I get myself and Thea dressed to leave the house. Thea pretty much cries the entire time we are getting ready. I get her in her car seat and head outside to bounce her a bit, while also looking for wasp nests. I spot a stitch fix box on my porch and get excited. My mom comes out, we load up in the car.
10:37am: We're on our way to Party City to see if they have anything that will work for our costumes. Our family is taking on a circus theme this year. I'm the ring master/lion tamer, Ryann is going to be an acrobat/circus performer, Elsie a clown and Thea a lion. I've pretty much got Elsie and Thea's costumes figured out, it is Ryann's that is giving me the most trouble. Thea still isn't sleeping when we get there, and I discover she has spit up when we get to the store. No surprise there. I get her wiped off, and she falls asleep while we walk around. We don't find any costume pieces, but do get some ideas of stuff to make and order. Before we head out we buy some window clings to entertain the girls with. My mom wants a salad from McDonalds (or Old McDonalds as Elsie would call it :o), so we drive thru there, and get Elsie some chicken nuggets as well.
11:30am: We pick up Elsie from MMO and head home for lunch. While Elsie and Grammy dig in to their Old McDonald's, I warm myself up some leftover chicken pesto pizza. For dessert it is a slice of dark chocolate raspberry banana bread that my mom brought over. She is too good to us. Thea is still snoozin' in her car seat so I open up my stitch fix box. I have to say I am rather disappointed. I like one of the sweaters, but the fit is just awful on me. And everything is very grey. Don't get me wrong, I love grey. But I always ask for color. And I don't care how in wide leg pants are, I just can't do it. I wind up deciding to keep a grey and white striped shirt, because it does fit and I don't want to lose my $20 styling fee. I had high hopes for this fix because I loved everything in my last one. You can't win 'em all I guess.
12:24pm: Thea is STILL asleep in her car seat, so my mom lets me sneak in a shower. Do we see a trend here? My mom pretty much wins. I would survive without her, but I wouldn't be near as happy, and I'd be a lot more smelly :o).
12:45pm: At this point it has been almost another four hours since I've fed Thea. I decide to go ahead and wake her. A decision I usually regret, but the darn pediatrician has scared me to believe that if I don't wake her up she'll never learn to sleep at night. I'm pretty sure she is full of it, but I cave anyway. My mom takes Elsie outside to play playdoh and swing while I feed Miss T. She keeps nodding off while she is nursing, and promptly passes out once she is finished. My mom brings in a stinky Elsie, so I pass Thea off to her. She falls back asleep on her shoulder for a bit, but wakes up pissed a few moments later. I guess she needs more sleep. I quickly run through Elsie's quiet time routine, two books, a couple songs and a back rub, and leave her in her room for a nap. That she never takes. But one can hope. Once she is settled I grab Thea for my mom (who heads home), and take her up to my room. When I lay her on our bed to change her diaper it is like a switch flips and she starts smiling and cooing at me. This child is so confusing. I start debating if I try to keep her up for a bit or get her to take a nap, when Adrienne calls to discuss our upcoming photo session.
1:50pm: I've got everything squared away with Adrienne and Thea is acting tired again, so I swaddle her and try and sway her to sleep. Despite showing all of her tired cues, she refuses to cuddle in, so I set her down in the rock 'n play and try rocking her in there. It has only worked maybe twice before, but my back is sore from holding her all the time so I'm desperate. Thankfully it works.
2:10pm: Thea is asleep. Elsie is not, but she is still in her room. I'm so thankful that she is great about staying in there for quiet time. I snag a couple of packages off our porch (ironically one is from Adrienne, my birth images and a copy of Elsie's first year book for my mom. fun mail!!) and do some picking up around the house. I gather Ryann's dance clothes from her room to have out and ready when she gets home, and start a load of laundry.
2:53pm: And that is as far as I get before Thea is awake again. Gah, the curse of the 45 minute nap. So incredibly annoying. I try to rock the rock 'n play to see if she'll go back to sleep. She sort of does, but I can tell she isn't sleeping soundly. And at 3:05pm sleep buddy goes off and Elsie quickly finds me. She tries to be quiet, but lets face it. A 2.5 year old's concept of quiet doesn't generally equal a calm sleeping environment. Sure enough Thea's eyes pop open. No more nap time for anyone. Elsie has become more and more enamroued with Thea and really wants to hold her, so I oblige. Eventually we head downstairs and I get snack set out for when Ryann gets home.
3:34pm: Elsie seems content playing with things in the living room so I sit down to nurse Thea. It doesn't take long to realize this was a poor decision. Elsie gets antsy and starts messing with my decorations and things of that nature. But everything survives.
3:54pm: Chris is home with Ryann. She can't ride the bus home on Thursdays because she doesn't get off until after we need to leave for dance. I didn't really think that one through when I signed her up for a 4:30pm class. The girls eat their snack and Ryann gets changed. She disappears into the laundry room for a bit, and comes back with a paper swimsuit top she made me. Because it looked like boobs? Haha I have no idea. The things she comes up with...
4:18pm: Chris leaves to take Ryann to dance, and Elsie goes along for the ride. Thea and I hang out, 'talking' for a little bit before I realize we better get our bums in gear if I'm going to run an errand and make it to dance on time for parent observation week. As we're walking towards the door she spits up all over for the millionth time today. A successful shot right on my foot. Thanks sweet girl, I love you too. Gross.
4:30pm: We're on our way to Target. Thea screams the entire way there, but falls asleep once I walk her around the store a bit. And I'm lucky enough that this time she stays asleep when I put the seat in the stroller. We (or me I suppose) pick out a birthday present for Avery, along with a few other things. Thea wakes up while we're checking out and proceeds to scream the entire drive to dance. I'm worried that she won't go back to sleep but she does me a solid and conks back out once I start carrying her around again. We get to watch the last ten minutes of Ryann's first dance class. They are working on a jazz dance for the winter showcase. Yay for Christmas music! Haha. Ryann seems a little short on energy and a little lost. She has another class so I carry Thea around to a few other stores. I spot a chair that is almost spot on for the style I'd like as end chairs in my dining room. But it is $1000. Yeah no. Not spending over $2000 on two chairs that have the potential to get ruined. After 35 minutes it is time to go back and watch Ryann's second class. She looks even more asleep than during the first. I think this whole all day kindergarten thing is wearing her out.
6:17pm: In the car and heading home. When we get there it is time for dinner. Chris picked up Chinese take-out. Probably wouldn't have been my first choice, but honestly these days as long as I don't have to figure out a meal on my own I'll eat it. I'm just happy to have food. I eat quickly assuming that Thea is going to wake up any minute. But she doesn't. For as much as that girl hates being put in her carseat she sleeps rather well in there. Just before 7:00 I try to rouse her. She isn't having it. She lazily nurses. Chris turns on the Royals game and then takes Ryann and Elsie upstairs for a bath. They make it a quick one and come back down to watch a little bit of a movie before bed.
7:30pm: Bed time! The big girls brush their teeth and pass out bed time hugs and kisses. Chris hangs out with Thea while I put Elsie to bed (Ry is in her bed watching a 'How It's Made' video). I read E two books, do her medicine (two puffs of qvar) and a couple songs before tucking her in. Once her door is closed I take Thea so Chris can finish getting Ryann to sleep. She still 'needs' someone to lay with her to fall asleep. We've tried playing hardball, but it never ends well. One night she said to me, "I wish I was married. You and Daddy are married and you get to fall asleep with each other every night. Why do I have to be all alone?" Touche sweet girl, touche. Anyway, I thought Thea and I would hang out for a little bit, but she is incredibly fussy. I lay her on our bed while I find my boppy and some burp cloths and she just screams. I always nurse her a little bit before bed, but this time I'm paranoid she'll just spit up, since it hasn't been all that long since I fed her. She falls asleep nursing, but wakes up before I even put her down. I stand up and sway with her until she is out.
8:31pm: She's sleeping, but I hold her for another five minutes just to make sure. During which time I text back and forth with my friend, Michelle. Text conversations (and in person conversations too) with her are some of my favorites. She never fails to make me smile. After Thea is safely in the rock 'n play I head downstairs. Chris is watching the Royals game, so I get myself a bowl of ice cream (guilty pleasure, I can't stop) and sit on the couch with him.
8:58pm: I'm so tired, I know I should go to bed, but I want to watch the game. I'm chilly so Chris hands me the 'white blanket' (It's from Pottery Barn. I'd link it but I can't figure out which one it is on the website. But it is AMAZING). We call this thing the sleeper, I should have known better to crawl under it...
11:17pm: I wake up on the couch. So much for watching the game, I should have just gone to bed. I drag myself upstairs and crawl in. Goodnight! Until the next feeding that is.
2 comments:
Ahhhh loved reading this :) it is such a crazy phase of life!! This made me SO THANKFUL Charlie isn't a spitter! Luke was and we used probably 6 burp cloths per feeding, then he'd spit up between feedings too
I just want to say thank you. I love reading and realizing that I'm not the only one with this crazy life. We are having our third girl too and I love seeing your girls! I love how real you are and I so appreciate it! And how you keep up on your blog gives me motivation for my private blog because it really is a special journal of this time of life! Thanks again!
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