This Laid-Back Mama is About To ERUPT!

Yesterday, I got a text from the babysitter saying she had strep throat. So trying to give her a day to rest (she is pregnant) and thinking I'd save ourselves the potential of getting it, I made other arrangements. Turns out, I wish I would have just taken Alice down there and risked the possibility of strep...

My brother agreed to come to the bank to pick up Alice when he got off of work. So Alice was at work with me for about 2 hours. Lets just say that it is really hard to get work done with an almost nine month old walking and crawling around... and oooh outlets! Fun stuff!

So he picks her up a little before 5 pm, and I transfer the carseat to my sister-in-law's car (which is a coupe)... that took about 10 minutes of creative wrangling on my part. Try getting a Britax in a small coupe. HA! Then I went over the whole eating/bottle/sleep thing with him. I called on my pumping break to see how things were going. He informed me that his wife was irritated with him (and possibly me) for not knowing when "a 9 month old last ate or slept". So I told him to try to give her some of the bottle, and if she didn't want it then heat up her little meal. I have been buying the Gerber meals for toddlers/preschoolers for the babysitters... it is easier when doing BLW (baby-led weaning) and I also know what she is eating.

So I get off of work and go pick her up about 10pm. My SIL gives me a run-down of the evening. Alice slept for 8 minutes! Yes, 8 minutes! I mumbled something about the sleep regression thing (she claims to know nothing about it). Then she says she was really fussy and crying most of the evening. Oh, and she only ate just a few ounces (FIVE!), but she just kept chewing on the nipple and playing with the bottle.
No big deal, I think. She just didn't want milk.

So we get home, and I start unpacking things and find her meal in the bag. Along with her cheerios and goldfish. ALL UNEATEN! No wonder my baby was crying and fussy... she was STARVING! So I quickly heat up her meal (who has time to make food when I can heat up her meal in 30 seconds and give it to her) and feed it to her. She ate it all in less than 7 minutes! I have never seen any child eat anything so fast in all my life. Then I nursed her and she fell asleep. I put her in her crib, where she slept for 33 minutes before she was back in bed with us and nursing most of the night.

I have a few problems with this whole thing. First, I'm not sure where the problem broke down, but I have two guesses (and either one could very much be the correct assumption)... my brother, either out of not caring or his inferior baby knowledge skills to his wife, decided not to tell her about the meal. OR she decided not to give it to her. I know she had to have seen it... it was right next to the diapers and wipes. Perhaps she thought my baby shouldn't be eating solids. All I know, is that my baby was crying and I'm sure they ate in front of her. Poor baby! I don't care what your personal opinion on feeding a baby is. You want to give your baby purees-fine. You want me to give your baby purees-fine. I give my child solids. I ALWAYS have. If you have a problem with that, I'm sorry. Get over it. Feed my baby.

I think I should also mention that my SIL is a NICU nurse. She claims she is "The Baby Whisperer". I also know she has not read a single thing on baby/child development... and she is 33 weeks pregnant. YUP! She tried to tell me that I needed to put Alice on a feeding schedule every three hours. I told her you can't do that with a breast-fed baby. I have also told her about BLW and wonderweeks, and a few other things that I "buy" into. She hasn't heard of any of this stuff. I think now may be a good time to try to figure it out. Just sayin'.

So I spent the majority of the night awake. And feeling like a horrible mommy. I cried. I still feel like crying, but now I'm more to the screaming part. Alice is fine. I think she has probably forgotten all about being hungry. Thankfully, she will not remember any of this. Me... well I unfortunately will not.

Sooooo Tired

It is a nasty, rainy Monday here. The forecast calls for rain all week. I wish I could blame my fatigue on the weather... though it sure isn't helping. Apparently, Alice has decided to quit sleeping and just nap. I never got the memo.

Saturday night, Alice went to bed at approximately 1:15 am. She slept for less than two hours before she was back in bed with us. She and I were up all night, or at least it felt like we were. I know part of the reason I am so tired is because my body doesn't get a break from producing milk. I have more convenient hours than most places. Sean, being the wonderful husband he is, let us sleep in Sunday. Sweet, right? Yes and no. See we didn't get up until 11:30. Do you see where this is going?
We are caught in a nasty cycle now. I started to put Alice down last night about 10:30, after her bath. She fell asleep and I carried to her crib. As soon as I put her down, she was back up screaming and crying. So we went back to our bed. 30 minutes later, I attempted to put her in her crib again... same thing. So back to our bed... and so on and so forth until 1:30. Then I got to wash and sterilize bottles and shower. I think it was almost 3 before I went to bed. Alice woke up about 3:50 and was back in bed with us. Ugh! I know there is a light at the end of this tunnel... I just can't see even a glint of it from here.

I will try to post pictures of the kitties tomorrow. Along with Alice's new shoes. My dad took us shopping and out to an early dinner yesterday. He bought Alice 5 pairs of shoes. I tried telling him that she will just outgrow them, like next week, but he insisted. I did manage to get 3 pairs in the next size up, so hopefully that will last until her birthday at least.