I feel a little silly posting this right after my thankfulness post, but I decided to go ahead so that when I read this in 20 years, I won't think that it was sunshine and unicorns all the time. Most of the time it is, and I most definitely have a lot to be thankful for, but there are some hard times.
Right now, all of our hard times involve:
sleep.
Or the lack thereof. Terry has done an incredible job of regulating Mason's naps during the day. They are very consistent - 12ish and 5ish everyday, and most of the time he sleeps longer than 30 minutes now. We're very blessed, naps don't make me want to beat my head against the wall anymore.
Nighttime is another story.
He used to be such a fabulous nighttime sleeper! He'd go to sleep by nine, and we wouldn't hear a peep out of him until 5, sometimes later. Oh how I miss those days - if only I'd known how things would change I would have cherished those moments
so much more.
Now, when Mason knows it's bedtime, things get crazy. He does okay in the bathtub (in fact he's sitting in the tub like a big boy!) but after bath time it all goes downhill. Getting his diaper on his like wrestling a hyperactive alligator. I literally have to use one arm to hold him down while the other arm does everything else. Once I finally get his diaper on and am assured that he will not pee all over the sheets right at bedtime, I let him move how he wants and I just work around him. We have this new ointment we have to put all over him for his eczema, so I just get whatever spot is available to me at the moment. He thrashes about like a rabid shark, so I eventually get access to every spot. Getting him dressed has become an ordeal in itself. Back-laying is too good for my little acrobat!
Once I finally get the little man dressed, the wrestling match should be over, right?
Wrong. He also has some kind of eye infection, so I have to put drops in his eye too. He knows what's coming now, no matter how sneaky I am or how hard I try to distract him. After the drops, we brush his hair, turn off the light, and get the bottle. At this point, my head has fallen dramatically against the back of the rocking chair, defeated and exhausted. I cannot beat the mighty alligator, but perhaps he'll let me cry "uncle" for the night.
No such luck.
As he's eating, he's still thrashing about, doing everything possible to keep himself from succumbing to the boring world of sleep. Kicking his legs, pulling his hair, pulling my hair, scratching, whatever it takes, just as long as he
does not fall asleep. He makes it through most of his bottle wide awake, even though I keep my eyes closed (hint hint) and don't talk or make any sudden movements. I put him on my shoulder, rock him, pat his back, but this is where the real fight begins! He squirms from side to side, he pulls on my shirt, he scratches my neck and anything else he can get his hands on (is that even legal in the WWF, or whatever they call it now?) Finally, I lay him down, even though he is still wide awake, I
need to walk away.
At this point, I jump in the shower, and at some point while I'm in the shower or shortly after I get out, he puts himself to sleep. Yes, he cries. Call the bad moms club, I already have a membership.
Ahh, so the story ends here, right? If only...
I typically have a little time to dry my hair, get on the computer, but by 10:30, he's up crying again. (I better wrap up this post - it's 10:09 so I don't have long!) Thankfully, I can usually go in and do a little patting and he'll go back to sleep. Around 1ish - fussing again, and this is where my prayers get a little frantic.
Dear God, please, please, please can you get him back to sleep? Just this once, I'll get up with him in a little while.
Most of the time, I'm pretty sure God snickers a little and I have to drag my exhausted behind out of my oh-so-cozy bed. Sometimes, he'll let me pat him back to sleep, sometimes I can rock him back to sleep.
Sometimes not.
Sometimes, he pretends like he needs to eat, but he'll only play with the bottle. Once I've made sure he's changed, tried to feed him, and checked the temperature, I'll leave him in his crib and try to get back to sleep. Sometimes this works. Sometimes I have to get up 5 more times.
Anywhere between 2 and 4, he's up again, this time he is ready to eat, and I better hurry dangit! Back in the day, he would fall asleep at the end of his bottle, and I would gently lay him down and sneak back to my bed, and we'd sleep, and it was wonderful. Now, he likes to stay up for an hour or two after he eats - he must have heard that advice from Oprah and Bob Greene...I never did like those two. Oh, and did I mention, he wants me to stay up with him? *sigh* I go in every now and then, when the whines get to be too much, but I can't even tell you how tempting it is to just turn off the monitor, (bad moms club) especially when it's 5:00 and my alarm is going to go off in half an hour.
Finally, he'll drift off into dreamland. And then my alarm goes off. Most days, it doesn't even phase him, some days he'll start screaming and will be inconsolable. This is the part where I have to get ready for work and daddy has to take over, and some days, I'm glad for that. (Bad moms club.)
I love my little guy and I do have much to be thankful for, but sometimes, I just need to cry "uncle." It is now 10:22, I have 8 minutes to dry my hair, and then we'll start the whole debacle over again.
