1st night started off great. We had company over, dinner and off to a good bedtime start. Liam went down well after his new routine of new diaper, book and bottle around 9:30. I was feeling pretty good around 10:30 when he was still sound asleep and started to hunker down myself.
Then 11pm hit and little man awoke. I went in to soothe him, put his fallen pacifier back in and turn the Sleep Sheep back on. 12:30, again, same thing. 2:30, again, same thing. This time, not working. 3am I fed him a bottle and rocked him back to sleep by 3:30. 4am - again, more soothing. 6:30, up again, this time wide awake. Except I was dog tired. So I tried to soothe him a bit to catch some extra zzzz's when we really should have been getting up for the day.
7:30am we got up for the day to try to get myself and him ready by 8am (hah). At 8am, I was at least dressed and working on getting him dressed when I noticed he had had a huge blowout. I noticed this while holding him against me, so naturally I got covered in poo. It was bad enough that he should have gotten a bath, but we were already running late. So I used about 15 wet wipes and got him cleaned up and changed. Now I had to get re-dressed myself. I left our poo clothes on the floor and started to pack him up when I realized the poor dog hadn't been let our or fed!
All in all, we made it to school 30 minutes late, then I was off to work with no make up and a messy (bad) bun. With only 3 hours of sleep all broken up, I was super tired, but made it through the day and even managed to get home to take a shower before picking that little guy up from school.
We spent Friday night at our friend's, whose husband was on the same trip as mine. We had pizza and played with the kids. It was a fun night! I changed Liam into his pjs and a new diaper before heading home, so we ended the night with a bottle in his room and he was asleep by 10. And didn't.wake.up.until.5. O.M.G. SEVEN hours! It was a miracle!
At 5 I changed and fed him and he was back to sleep by 5:30 until 8:20 (and so was I). We got up and played and then about 10:15 went and picked up my sister who came in from Chicago!! She was going to spend the whole next 2 days with us!!
She even came bearing new cool duds for the little dude!
Saturday we napped, took a long walk and then went to my parents' house for a party they were having for friends. We partied until about 9:30, then changed the little man into his jammies (like the night before) and headed home. I gave him his last bottle and rocked him in his room and he was down by 10:30. At 3:30 he woke me up for a quick soothe and pacifier check and then back to sleep. Then he got at 5:15 for a feeding, and again at 8am. Another pretty good night! We then cuddled until 10am (when my sister finally got up - jeesh, to be young again).
We went on another walk, and hit up Einstein Bros Bagels for breakfast. Then we went to the plaza to shop the day away.
We ended the weekend with husband returning, family over and watching the Jayhawks win to advance to the Final Four.
Things got off to a rough start, but with help from my family and friends, we ended up having a pretty good time. It was good to know that I could do it by myself and we even had some special bonding.
But I have to say, those middle of the night up and down are not only exhausting, but lonely. It's nice to have another adult there, even if they're sleeping. Just in case you get so tired you just can't do it. Or if something goes wrong. I imagine things get easier as the child grows, but with a 3 month old, life and nights are still very unpredictable. Which is a little scary to face alone.
And I'm a wimp.
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Oh my goodness. A million props to you. Not only for braving the 3 days of single mommyhood, but for letting your husband go on the trip. Some wives would have been totally appalled that he would even ask. I see you're the type of wife that understands life isn't over because you marry and have children. I love reading your blog! Thanks for sharing. : )
ReplyDeleteVonae Deyshawn
www.myvirtueplace.com
oh wow!!! soo proud of him for sleeping 7 hours!! and you are right, every night is different. sometimes A sleeps 4, sometimes 7, sometimes 8 for his longest stretch, it's just unpredictable! i don't know if i could go back to him waking every couple of hours, that is rough! but yea, i agree that having friends over and not being alone would def help too!!
ReplyDeleteAha! These little ones are unpredictable. I had a week alone in January when my baby boy was 2 months old, it was rough! He is such a cutie, sounded like an awesome weekend ;)
ReplyDelete7-hour stretches of sleep are wonderful. Eli has just started sleeping from 7:00 to around 2:00 a.m., eating, then back to sleep till 7:00 or so (I hope I didn't jinx us by writing that!!) Getting up once a night is so much better than twice...or three times...or more...
ReplyDeleteSingle parents are honestly amazing. I don't know how they do it all the time. At least when it's only for a couple of days you know there's an end in sight.
I had a whole new appreciation for single moms when the hubs went out of town when the dude was teeny!
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