Black Friday

SAHM: 4 good days

11 month old: 1 really, really bad day, which totally kicks my '4 good days' ass.




Pequita hasn't had a night terror for days, but has had two episodes while awake, which hopefully indicates that it isn't night terrors but is instead the developmental tantrum problem, which in theory will be over sooner. However, she is still off her sleeping kilter. She napped a total of 60 minutes today from 10am until 8pm when Homestead Mama put her down for the night. This is NOT ENOUGH SLEEP if you are eleven months old. She was a clingy whiny horror today, driving me to tears more than once and giving herself a fat lip in a clumsy fall. I called my sister for help when I was at my wits end around 5pm. She gave some great advice which I put into action immediately and it worked. She said to go outside immediately and let Pequita get tired, wet and have a change of scenery. We had just had a horrible hail storm, but the afternoon sun was out and it was just what we all needed. She loved the hailstones everywhere, and crawled around eating them by the handful. She went on the slide, danced around the yard,crawled on the wet lawn furniture and got soaked with icy water. We came inside, and I was desperately holding out for Hottie Friend to come over in the afternoon and help me regain my composure, but she had to cancel (for a very good reason - I hope it's going swimmingly!) I found her voicemail waiting when I got back inside and I was at a total loss (= cried more). As per my sister's advice, I fed Pequita some yogurt, then H-Mama came home. (!!!) After one look at my face she took over. Pequita had a long hot bath and played a bit more. At 8 pm, H-Mama nursed her for a total of about 3 minutes before Pequita conked out hard. In my first free time all day long (doesn't seem like that big a deal, but with almost constant stimulation and stress it can be hard) I lit my favorite incense, put on a Ray Lamontagne CD loudly and danced around the living room with Monito, who was happy for the time together. I then sat down to work on the computer (read blogs) and relax further with assistance. (Yes, my coaster is the wrapper from the top layer of cookies that I already finished. I was well into the second layer. No comment.) After a while, I looked like this:instead of the pinched shrewish sad mom I was earlier. That's the thing to remember - the tides will turn, you'll rediscover the love you have for your kids, and they'll be cute as hell again.

There was a highlight or two from the day, believe it or not. They include buying the crib I saw baby consignment store last week for $35. I also found a play yard that will likely adapt to a wood stove gate (I'll let Dad have at the mounting and modifications when he is here for Pequita's birthday) and a couple of nice pieces of clothing for next year. Boy, people in my town really sell nice kids clothes! The international students here have things that are so much better made and stylish than we can buy at Tar.get and the like. I'll try to get pics of her in the clothes once she has become human again. Most important highlight? The realization that even when I was at my worst I would rather be home with the babies than at work.