Saturday, March 6, 2010

A long sunny day.


Well, better to have a long sunny day than a long rainy day. But, as probably all moms can tell you some days are just long and painful. And that was today. We woke up to a glorious early spring morning. Hopes were high.

I quickly thought of all the fun things we could do to stretch our home isolation legs. Maybe we could go for a long walk (or a long run for me). Or go to the bay and see the water and look for rocks. Then there is all the gardening that could happen while Kate napped. Not to mention it would be great to accomplish some of the thousand errands I have to do.

So, up and ready the family got. I of course am still pumping breast milk every 3 to 4 hours, so that is taking place pretty much all the time. Ed needed to go to the DMV for a licenses renewal. Kate was cheery and playing on the floor. We should have known that a day that involved the DMV is somewhat doomed from the start.

Off Ed went. Into the bath Kate went. Followed by bottle, then trying to lay her down for her first nap. The whole time Ed is still gone, and still gone... and gone some more. Katie is crying and not napping. The day is starting to slip away from me and it isn't even noon.

Ed finally comes home, somewhat disturbed by the DMV process. Katie has managed to sleep for 30 minutes and is crying more. Now for those of you without children, you learn early on in parenthood the power of a nap. The nap will make or break your whole day. And babies need a lot of naps, and not all naps are equal. For Kate a good nap is typically between an hour and half and two hours, and is best if she wakes herself up happy. We need two of these at a minimum in a day.

Meanwhile the sun is still shining. Spring has sprung and I need out! Kate looks as likely to nap as she does to fly to the moon, so the family loads up the car to go for a drive. This section of the day was fairly good. The daffodils are in bloom, a hamburger was picked up and besides a few cranky cries from the backseat we traveled on. And when we got home, she was asleep in the carseat.

Now comes another critical skill in parenthood. The transfer of a sleeping child from one place to their beds. This can also make or break any plans you have for a few moments of personal solitude. Unfortunately the sleep gods were not with us on this day, and crying began again. This cycle continued on, and on and on. She maybe got about 30 minutes more of napping in the afternoon. At one point in the late afternoon, I think we were all a bit loopy because we were actually laughing.

Luckily as I type it seems we have finally broken the hour mark for sleeping. Of course the sun has set, the garden remains untouched and the forecast is for rain tomorrow. I can almost predict that if the rain comes the naps will also be regular and solid. Oh, just one of the joys of parenthood.

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