This blog is not meant to be a negative space, but today is turning out to be one of those mommy lesson days. I have been a mommy quarantined for two weeks because we are down to one car, which hubby takes to work. This would not be a big deal if I actually lived close to places or had friends in the neighborhood who spent any time outside. Neither of these seems to be the case and baby and I have been stuck at home. At first it was no big deal. Things were fine, we were fine. I found ways to keep occupied and distracted; for baby it was often cereal puffs and baths, for mommy it was often chocolate. However the last three days have nearly done me in. Not to mention Gilmore Girls seasons 4-7 on DVD. Those have saved me during the late afternoon right before Superman comes home. I will admit though, my distractions are wearing thin and I have had it up to my eyeballs with a grumpy pants for a baby.
First of all take a good look at that baby face up there. How could I be so fed up with this face? Well, I will tell you, this is not always the face I am greeted with. In fact, greeted is a word I use loosely because usually when I see this face first thing in the morning or right after a nap it is scrunched in all of its gargoyle glory. This kid hates waking up from naps. I put an angel baby down and he wakes up the offspring of Uruk-hai. To say the very least, he is not happy after he sleeps. He hollers and screams. He sits up and flails his arms. He stands up in his crib and promptly falls down and smacks his face. Then the hollers and screams, starting the vicious cycle once more. It does not help that lately his naps are shorter and shorter, especially his 10am nap. I will be bald for all of the hair yanking I have been doing at 10:10 when the cries come through the monitor.
I have been trying everything I can think of to combat this lack of sweet, sweet nap time; everything I have gleaned from mommy lessons around the internet, in books, and yes from my own mother. I have tried keeping him to a nap and eating schedule. I have tried running him ragged and then letting him sleep. I have tried holding him or letting him cry it out. I have tried and presumably failed at all of these. Mommy lessons are not easy! Unfortunately I am learning this particular lesson the hard way.
But there is a plus side to all of this, because this is a happy blog. From this particularly grueling mommy lesson I have learned just how much I need some me time, how much I really need those naps. I have also learned I do not need a car to get some good me time. In fact, the stroller seems to work fairly well for both naps and quiet space inside my own head. A bike would be better (hint, hint; nudge, nudge; wink, wink Superman. You getting this? Testing, testing.) I have also learned that sometimes none of the advice, books, hints, and tips work. Sometimes you just have to listen to your mommy gut and know when you should go pick your baby up and when you should leave him howling like a banshee while you finish a blog post. I have also learned that I love my baby far beyond any emotion I could express and when he finally does settle into my arms, snugging is face into the crook of my shoulder, there is nothing sweeter in the entire world. That is the exact moment I find myself thinking, "Yeah, I got this!"
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