After 4 days of fussiness and almost no naptime, Jane's mom and I talked and decided I would try going to their house instead. AND IT WAS FABULOUS.
Jane is fine because it's her house and her mom is downstairs (she works from home and travels occasionally), and Jeric is fine because I am there.
When one of the babies gets tired/fussy, Jane's mom comes upstairs and takes Jane to put her down for a nap while I put Jeric down for his. Then I get a bit of a break and can sit on the couch and read or watch a movie. Husband can come and hang out (and go swimming in their backyard if he wants to) when he isn't in class.
We did that Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday last week and it was all just fine. The only time I need to keep them quiet is if Jane's mom is on a conference call, but she lets me know beforehand and I take the babies back to Jane's room and shut the door. Other than that, we have free reign of the upstairs.
The babies love it, I love it because they aren't fussing all day, and Jane's mom loves it because she can work (which she tells me is unfortunately the only option for their family at this time) but still gets to spend time with her baby during the day.
It's about a 15-minute drive to get to Jane's house, so I leave here at about 7:30 and stay until Jane's mom says she's done for the day.
This week and next Jane and her mom are out of town for a business trip, so I'm getting the chance to get caught up on my laundry and run a few errands during the day :)
Family
30 August 2010
19 August 2010
New Job
So I guess technically I'm a working mom again, but not really because my "job" is taking care of a sweet girl from church who is three weeks older than Jeric while her parents are both working. I will call her Jane on the blog, which is not her real name but her mom requested that I use a fake name, which I am all to happy to do. Today is the first day Jane is here with us. She came at about 7:45 this morning and will be here until about 5:30 when her dad picks her up from work.
And what a first day! Especially when it came to nap time. It took me almost 3 HOURS to get both Jeric and Jane to sleep. Both need me to hold them in a quiet place to go to sleep (Jeric nursing, Jane with her blanket and pacifier) -- which means I can't do both at the same time. Poor Jeric, I knew he would forgive me for leaving him as soon as I started nursing him, so I put him in the downstairs playpen with some toys and a movie and took Jane upstairs to the other playpen and rocking chair. She would almost go to sleep but since she was a bit worked up from being in an unfamiliar place, she would wake up and cry as soon as I tried to lay her down. After almost half an hour of that, I left her because I knew Jeric would be crying. She cried the whole time I was gone, but it only took Jeric about 3 minutes to fall asleep, and he's still sleeping. I went and got Jane and brought her downstairs and sat in my glider and rocked her for over an hour until she fell asleep and started snoring, at which point I was finally able to lay her down. [At one point when she was nearly asleep I heard Jeric start fussing from the other room and I whispered a prayer -- "Please just let him stay asleep!" -- and he did!]
So it's been about half an hour since Jane fell asleep. Hopefully they'll both be asleep for a while longer, but I know they will be hungry as soon as they wake up! Today has been rough and tomorrow probably will too, but it was expected and will get better as we establish familiarity and routine. Wish us luck!
And what a first day! Especially when it came to nap time. It took me almost 3 HOURS to get both Jeric and Jane to sleep. Both need me to hold them in a quiet place to go to sleep (Jeric nursing, Jane with her blanket and pacifier) -- which means I can't do both at the same time. Poor Jeric, I knew he would forgive me for leaving him as soon as I started nursing him, so I put him in the downstairs playpen with some toys and a movie and took Jane upstairs to the other playpen and rocking chair. She would almost go to sleep but since she was a bit worked up from being in an unfamiliar place, she would wake up and cry as soon as I tried to lay her down. After almost half an hour of that, I left her because I knew Jeric would be crying. She cried the whole time I was gone, but it only took Jeric about 3 minutes to fall asleep, and he's still sleeping. I went and got Jane and brought her downstairs and sat in my glider and rocked her for over an hour until she fell asleep and started snoring, at which point I was finally able to lay her down. [At one point when she was nearly asleep I heard Jeric start fussing from the other room and I whispered a prayer -- "Please just let him stay asleep!" -- and he did!]
So it's been about half an hour since Jane fell asleep. Hopefully they'll both be asleep for a while longer, but I know they will be hungry as soon as they wake up! Today has been rough and tomorrow probably will too, but it was expected and will get better as we establish familiarity and routine. Wish us luck!
10 August 2010
Milestones
Last Monday (August 2), Jeric turned 11 months old.
He celebrated that night by walking across the room, and he's been doing it ever since. For about a month before that he'd been taking two or three steps at a time, but now he really walks.
It's pretty cute. I've been trying (unsuccessfully) for the last week to upload a video of it, but I can't get it to work. I'll keep trying.
This morning we noticed that he cut his eighth tooth sometime in the last day or so.
Size 12month clothes are too small, though I still shove him in them because I don't have many size 18month clothes.
He loves playing the "I'm going to get you" game -- he giggles and giggles while I chase him around.
It is so much fun to watch him figure things out. I love being this little boy's mama! Can't believe he's turning one in 3 weeks.
He celebrated that night by walking across the room, and he's been doing it ever since. For about a month before that he'd been taking two or three steps at a time, but now he really walks.
It's pretty cute. I've been trying (unsuccessfully) for the last week to upload a video of it, but I can't get it to work. I'll keep trying.
This morning we noticed that he cut his eighth tooth sometime in the last day or so.
Size 12month clothes are too small, though I still shove him in them because I don't have many size 18month clothes.
He loves playing the "I'm going to get you" game -- he giggles and giggles while I chase him around.
It is so much fun to watch him figure things out. I love being this little boy's mama! Can't believe he's turning one in 3 weeks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)