Lessons of the night...

Last night I learned three important parenting lessons. They are lessons that deep down I already knew, but I now know firsthand!

In the three and a half weeks that I have been a parent, I have said many times "Man, we have such a good baby!" I have not questioned the decision to become a parent, nor have I wondered if it were too late to give him back. I did last night!

We have been very fortunate in that Kaleb has been such a good eater and sleeper. We have been going at least four hours between every meal and most nights have had a six hour stretch. Not last night.

Which brings me to Lesson #1.

Do not ever think that you are in control/have everything figured out!

I sat down to feed Kaleb at 10pm. Kevin had just gone to bed and I had let him know that we were not far behind. Kaleb pooped in his jammies. No big deal. I got some clean ones and back to eating we went. At 11pm I tucked him in and, with a confident smile on my face, laid down in bed. He fussed a little. I replaced his pacifier in his mouth. He fussed a little more. I helped him scoot himself farther up in the bassinet. All was quiet. The he fussed some more. Then he squeeled a little. Then he was quiet. Then he fussed. Then Kevin sighed loudly. He continued spitting out the pacifier, then wanting it back, spitting then fussing, spitting then fussing. So, I got him up with the thought that he might have gotten some more poop out. Nope. All clean, but now screaming! So, maybe he's still hungry?

Which leads me to lesson #2.

Breastfeeding is only great during the day.

As I sat in the rocking chair, arguing with a 3 week old about how much help his little hands and his screaming were not, I wished nothing more than to have a bottle to give to Kevin. I could tell that he was still hungry, but he was so upset that he wouldn't eat! After about an hour, we had successfully finished eating again and seemed content. All I could think of was the fact that I was going to have to do this all over again in a few hours. Why couldn't Kevin breastfeed? Why hadn't I thawed out some of the frozen milk and made Kevin bottle feed him? ughh, why is Kaleb still fussing????? So, we rocked, we walked around, we laid down in the pack n play and so on. Finally I laid down on the couch and cuddled him. Ahhhh peace!! For about 5 minutes. So, we changed positions. Ahhhh peace!! For about 5 minutes. Finally, at about 2am he was mostly calm and quiet and soon asleep in the pack n play. So begins the debate...he ate (for the second time) at about 11:45...so four hours...3:45...he's asleep...no I am not going to dare move him...I'll sleep on the couch. It's only for about 2 hours anyway! And so I did. He actually slept until about 4:45! An extra hour!!

He woke up in his normal good mood. We changed his diaper and ate very peacefully!! Just as he was finishing eating I heard Kevin's alarm clock...5:30. Ahh, I don't have to go anywhere! I finished getting him back to sleep and successfully got him into his bassinet and me into the bed! It had been about 10 minutes since Kevin's alarm and I hadn't heard it again, so I whispered to him that he needed to get up.

Which leads me to my final lesson of the night/morning.

Killing your husband will not help you sleep. Even though having him alive doesn't do much good for sleeping either!

As I whispered to him again, he sighed/grumbled and said, "man, it feels like I just laid down..."