I do drugs
Presumably with the purpose of keeping us from getting too comfortable, Miles balanced Tuesday night’s sleep-fest with a hellish night last night. It wasn’t his worst—he didn’t scream a whole lot—but I was up from 3:40 to 6 a.m. walking, bouncing, feeding, patting, and sshhh-ing him (but not singing to him. The books say not to make night time a fun time, so there will be no renditions of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” after midnight. Truthfully this is due more to being so exhausted I can’t remember the lyrics than to any attempt at structure or discipline, which is surely futile with a kid this young).
The only thing that kept me borderline sane (though Denny may disagree with my self-assessment) was the prospect of coffee in the morning. I gave up caffeine when I was trying to get pregnant, and I haven’t had much since. However, my dad left some nice coffee grounds in my cupboard when he was here last weekend, and I’ve brewed up a couple of pots since then.
It seriously works.
It makes me wonder if this is how addicts in the early stages of their habits think. “If I can just get through the day at work, when I get home I can do a line of coke and everything will be okay.” Should I be relying on a drug just to exist with some semblance of normalcy? Is this unhealthy?
Do I give a crap?
Yikes. I have to admit that I found myself really, really enjoying a nice beer at the end of the day more than usual when Ava was an infant. Where is Miles sleeping?
Miles sleeps about six inches away from me in an Arm’s Reach.
You are definitely still in the “do whatever you need to do to survive” stage! Brady seemed to only like to sleep in his swing or vibrating chair when he was very young(when he did sleep). Miles is cute!
Despite stories of Mommies with fussy babies b/c of caffeine – I drink what I want in the am. The 1st week I got home however, I had a friend bring me a Latte when I was taking tylonol w/ codene… that was really hard to get control of that speed high…
Do it, Aprille. Rejoin the coffee coven. You know you want to.
coffee is a beautiful gift.
15 months and 28 days into this whole parenthood thing, after a bad night (because they regretfully still happen) I swear the only thing that hauls me out of bed willingly is the possibility of coffee. And on a really bad day, the possibility of someone making that coffee for me. The Java House has seen me at some really great moments. I pray they find it endearing.
I used to try and sing to Guthrie in the middle of the night. After not being able to get past “mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring” over and over I gave up. To this day Guthrie starts crying when I venture to sing it. I’ve scarred her.
when you’ve had 4 shots of espresso in a row we’ll call A&E. fyi.
and I swear it gets better. it just takes awhile. which sucks.
I know you probably get way too much unsolicited parenting advice, but have you thought about the dairy in your diet? Natalie was very colicky, and I gave up dairy. It didn’t solve all the problems, but it did reduce the screaming and crying (both mine and hers.) When she was about 6 months old, after she started solids, I gradually reintroduced dairy, and she did OK. Before 6 months, when I cheated and had dairy, she was miserable.
Huh. That’s an interesting thought, Tana. I actually don’t eat much dairy, but Wednesday night I had some ice cream, and look what happened. I’ll try cutting it out. Thanks for the tip.
Luckily I take my coffee black.
Coffee = good. Dairy = bad for fussy baby. I remember Eliott would get an upset stomach after Buffy ate pizza.
Hi Aprille & Gang! I’ve been reading off and on for quite some time and wanted to first say Congrats! Miles is just a precious little peanut and I’ve so enjoyed chatting with your mom about him and getting pictures from her! What a proud grandma! 🙂
I also had to jump in and 2nd the “dairy in the diet” thing – little miss Halle (as you know, was also 4.5 weeks early) did not tolerate my milk at all and after 2 months of literally no sleep (her and me) we discovered it could possibly be this dairy issue. I am not a dairy person at all, but since it was summer, I was eating a lot of ice cream. And those were the nights that she didn’t sleep well at all. Unfortunately it didn’t occur to me until the 2 month appt. and I was so exhausted and ready for an answer that I weaned her and went straight to the very pricey (but very effective) special formula for babies with this problem. It’s been a long haul with her and her little digestive system but it’s gotten much better.
Just something to think about. I think the very small amounts of dairy really affected her more than the massive amounts of Dt. Coke I was drinking daily to keep up with my 3 year old!
Good luck to you all – those sleepless nights will pass, I promise (otherwise there’s no way we’d ever have more than one child!)
re: Singing. I never read that about singing, and when Parker was the 2-6 month stretch, I also walked him around the house rocking him in my arms but I also sang to him – always something different, but with its own melody structure, bridge, etc. Now, whenever I need to put him down to sleep for the night or for a nap, I can sing to him and he passes out in under 5 minutes. It’s really convenient and I attribute it to associating the singing with sleep-time.
It could be the types of songs I sing – I just hum, and they are always very slow and mellow.
Completely unrelated to the blog — but stopped at a local gallery (Moberg) that just opened a Chris Vance exhibition. He’s started painting on canvas (large) as well as hooking his little paintings on masonite into groupings, which is very cool. Also, using photographs and painting over them, which I really love. The opening is next Friday. Anyhow, thought I would mention since you like his work.
Aprille, doing drugs just means you’re cool.