Wow, was yesterday a doozy! Jack is back to going to sleep every night between 3:00 and 4:00 am. Once he settles down, we get a good 6 - 8 hours out of him, but spanning that time between 10 pm (when we start trying to get him to sleep) and 3 or 4 am is not easy. It makes things even harder as he is now really starting to smile and laugh and interact with us. Nothing melts a parent's heart like looking at your little guy at 2:30 am and saying "Jack, it's not playtime, it's bedtime" and getting a giant gummy smile in return. (If anyone has tips for how we can get Jack to go to bed a bit earlier, please let me know!)
The photo above shows Jack in the midst of his bedtime routine last night. Mick gave Jack a bath (on his own!) and then "styled" his hair and gave him a bottle. Mick then kindly sent me to bed while he stayed up with Jack. Jack finally went down around 3:00 am; Mick couldn't fall asleep, so he went into the office in the middle of the night so he could plow through some work. I am hoping he comes home early today for a nap...
So, yesterday was going fairly smoothly. I had showered (I forgot to rinse the shampoo out of my hair, which I didn't realize until I was drying it -- but at least I was clean!), fed Jack his mid-afternoon meal, and dressed both of us. I then walked across the street to our neighbor's house to ask if they needed me to pick up any groceries for them (they just had their third child, who arrived three weeks early; and I think I have MY hands full!). I loaded Jack into the car and headed off to the grocery store, our first venture out to do a big shopping trip. I have been nervous about doing a real trip for groceries because I wasn't sure what I'd do if Jack had a meltdown when I had a full cart. Would I just leave the cart and run?
Of course, one block from the store, Jack started screaming. I thought the motion of the cart would help him, but no such luck. So, I carried him around the grocery store while an empty car seat sat in the shopping cart. This was not easy, but I was able to get a few needed items, including ingredients so I could make a nice dinner for Mick. I was able to get a few reprieves when I would set Jack back in his seat, whiz through a few aisles (forget checking prices or comparing items to each other), and then take him out again to quell his screaming.
Finally, I got throught checkout and back to the car where I loaded Jack and the groceries and then collapsed in the driver's seat. I was sitting at the red light, waiting to cross through the busy intersection, thinking about what a supermom I was for accomplishing all of this with a 6-week-old when, all of a sudden, my heart dropped. I realized I had forgotten to strap Jack back into his car seat when I placed him back in the final time. So, while the car seat was attached to the car, Jack was just resting on top of all the belts in the seat. I panicked and then I got into the other lane, drove across the street, and stopped in a parking lot to make adjustments. And then I started crying. I can't even begin to think about what could have happened had I been hit by another car. Sarah told me this happened to her too when Marcus was about 2 months old and she cried too. So, I guess I feel a bit less alone about this, but still... how inept am I?
Needless to say, arriving home was a blessing and a curse. Jack was screaming - again - so I had to lift him out of the car seat and "shush" him while simultaneously screaming at Shergar to be quiet (she realized we were home and was threatening to jump out the window screen while yelping away frantically). I didn't know how to get the groceries in, so I went to the yard and grabbed a stroller. As I was trying to open the stroller (with one hand) Jack's head smashed my shoulder and he started screaming again. It took forever for me to load the bags into the stroller (of course, I put the bag with the bread on the bottom) and this whole time I was still comforting Jack and screaming at the dog. I finally made it into the house and tried to get dinner started while dealing with an insane dog and a baby who was threatening to launch himself out of the baby carrier pack I had him in because he was so hungry.
Mick complimented my cooking though AND I didn't burn down the house. So in all, we survived, but what a day!
4 comments:
Omigod, Kelly, I literally laughed one of my good old-fashioned high school obnoxious laughs here in my classroom while reading your post (thank goodness I don't have a class this period). What a HILARIOUS story. First of all, don't stress about the car seat. I think every parent has done something like that. I remember one story I read where the dad looked in his rear-view mirror and panicked because he didn't see his kid. The carseat wasn't even strapped to the car and the whole thing had tipped over while he was rounding a corner. The kid was just sitting in the seat on the floor, smiling at him.
Brian's aunt once got the car all packed up to go on vacation and was ready to go when his uncle said, "Ummmm... aren't you forgetting something?" "No." "Are you sure?" Their daughter was asleep inside. Oops!
As for the sleeping thing, I don't know if he's too young for this but when we were having trouble getting Chase to sleep it was because we weren't trying to put him down early enough. I think he was 3 months old but we were trying to do a 10:00 bedtime (thinking if we put him to bed any earlier he would wake up, ready for breakfast, at 4am!), but then we read a book that said no matter what time you put them to bed they would get up around 6am, so we backed up his bedtime and it worked like a charm!
Hope that helps! Good luck (you're doing great)!
OK, now that we're all fessing up. We once had one of the kids in the carseat, buckled in, but didn't buckle the seat into the car. Rounded a corner and yep, you guessed it, carseat tipped over. Baby was intact, buckled in and hanging upside down. Not sure which one it was, though I think it was Trev. There's something about motherhood that makes you forget your pain! ;)
My mommy (Holly) has done the car seat no buckle thing with both me and my baby brother. I was old enough to tell mommy she forgot to buckle me. Bodie was just a few months old and she was driving 80 on a highway during rush hour. Please, don't feel guilty about it anymore. It's not worth it. Just remember, 30 years ago, most people didn't even use them. Just be happy you didn't leave him in the car seat on the hood of the car while you were driving down the road. I don't know what to tell you about the sleeping thing. They are so unpredictable in the beginning. Good luck!
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