To day
g ave
me a newfound respect for single parents.
I did the single parent thing for fourteen hours today…about five longer than normal for me.
I’m used to staying home with Maelie… and we have fun together.
I love my girl so much. 
During a typical week, we’ll get out probably two days, sometimes three, just so I can stay sane. And I had every intention of getting out today, but it didn’t quite happen like I had pictured.
My morning started early. I was up at 5:45 to meet a friend for
a run. I got home around 7:15, and by then, Maelie had already had her morning bottle and Tobin was getting
her ready to go for the day. I took a quick shower, spent a little time with him, and then he left at 8 a.m. for a long, busy day.
T he second
he left, she started crying.
I wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted, but I tried. I checked her diaper…nope. I put her in the high chair and gave her some Cheerios and juice…that worked for a few minutes.
a few minutes.
Finally around 8:45 I gave in and fed her early, thinking it would calm her down and that maybe she was just tired.. (She usually eats again at 9:30.) She nursed for an exceptionally long time, and I finally stopped her around 9:30, thinking she’d had more than enough. I changed her diaper and put her down for a nap.
And. She. Screamed.
Bloody. Murder.
For 90 minutes.
(Interspersed with a couple very short cat naps.)
At some point I wondered if maybe something was wrong with her so I checked on her and covered her up because she had kicked her blanket off. Nothing was making this
girl calm down.
Just FYI, Tobin and I have a pretty strict policy for napping.
She goes down, whether she wants to or not. Usually she cries for about two minutes before giving in to sleep, so today was rare. (How long she naps is another story…that varies from day to day.) However, we do not want her to learn that every time she screams she gets her way.
I worked on a couple things upstairs and finally gave in to the screaming, knowing that we were getting absolutely nowhere.
She was more than happy to see that I was finally picking her up, which solidified in my mind that she just didn’t want to sleep…that was it.
We ate some lunch and played a bit, and then I took her outside to swing.
The screaming started again.
No matter what I did, she screamed. We tried the jumper…she wailed. I held her…she was inconsolable. I finally gave up, sang to her, and put her down for another nap around 1:30.
Oh, no, that was not okay.
Fifteen minutes of blood curdling screaming, and I finally gave her a bottle, which seemed to calm her down somewhat. After a diaper change and another song, I put her down for a nap at 2:15.
After yet more wailing, she finally gave in, sleeping for a solid two hours.
And I. Was. Exhausted.
And you? Are probably exhausted just reading this.
Our plans to get out of the house after her nap fell through, but thankfully (?) we had to run to Target for some butterfly tape.
Yeah…I tried to cut my finger off. Thankfully our knives aren’t that good, but boy, was there a lot of blood.
Of all days. Seriously?!
(I’ll spare you the details only to tell you that I only made one frantic phone call, and thankfully he was a calming influence. :))
I had hoped to take Mae to church for the Lent service tonight, but let’s be honest. The single parent thing with a ten month old who is happy is hard. I can’t imagine trying it after the day we’ve had. I’m pretty sure we’d both end up in tears.
So we stayed home and she happily went to bed around 8 p.m.
I’m sure she was tired…I am! 😉
In all seriousness, though…it wasn’t a great day. I love my girl and am realistic enough to know that not every day is going to be perfect. However, after today, I realize just how very blessed I am to have Tobin and to not be doing this alone. My heart AND my respect goes out to all single parents.
Now to pour the coffee and kick my feet up…I think I’ve earned it. 😉
Have a great night!
Oh. Mel.
I. Remember.
What words of wisdom do I have?
Um. Let’s see.
It’s okay. And you’re right. There will be days like this, hard and loud days. You will be worn down and not handle it the way you would if you were rested and feeling patient. Be sure to cut yourself some slack. Obviously send up a prayer for some of His guidance and peace. But don’t be too hard on you when the days get hard. Or on her either. Letting them cry it out while you “work it out” in another part of the house is a good thing.
And of course I will tell you that missing church is okay. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Sorry about your finger. It seems to only happen on days like this. I’m not sure if it’s God’s joke on us or what……when it rains it pours!
I’m glad she’s asleep and I hope you get there too.
Finally….I got 2 cute coffee cups at the thrift store today. $.99 each. BONUS!
Sleep good! See ya tomorrow!
Oooh! Cute coffee mugs? I wanna see! Maybe post some pics on your blog? Have I mentioned that coffee mugs are a slight obsession for me? I had to leave a lot of them behind in Indonesia but kept my favorites. And eventually I’ll post pictures of all of them.
Thanks for the sweet words…today was much, much better.
(((hugs)))