Last night Cooper had his usual witching hour which starts at 8 pm nowadays. But, by 9:45 pm I had him swaddled and quiet in the portable bed in the family room. I gathered everything needed for the night and brought it upstairs and came back down to bring him up and stood there realizing that if I picked him up I risked waking him up and having to start all over again to calm him down so I decided to camp out in the family room instead. I pushed the two ottomans against the sectional and made a bed for myself next to Cooper's portable bed. As I mentioned this morning, Cooper slept until 1:45 am thankfully. After he was fed I made the mistake of not swaddling him back up and he kept waking himself up every hour and crying. I was so exhausted and not thinking straight so I didn't think of rewrapping him - I won't make that mistake tonight.
In spite of the intense exhaustion I felt when it was time to get up for the day this morning, I decided today would be another day of adventure for the Poopmeister. Once we got past the AM screaming fit following his AM Zantac dose, I plopped him in the mini swing in the upstairs bathroom and jumped into the shower for a 2-minute shower - no joke. I think I still feel the soapy film on me LOL and my hair is still dirty as there's no time for such luxuries as clean hair when the Pooper is screaming. Using the Baby Bjorn to keep him calm/happy, I spent the first half of the day running around picking up the house, washing bottles, doing laundry, feeding the animals, and taking the animals out and checking up on my online buddies with their blogs and the message boards we frequent.
Shortly after lunch I packed the Poopmeister into the car and headed to the mall where we met our dear friend, Felicia, and her 16 month old son, Evan, for some mall walking exercise. I decided to get there 30 minutes early to ensure I wasn't rushed or stressed and grab a latte (must.have.caffeine.to.survive) once I got in the mall. I pushed Cooper around in his stroller until it was time to meet Felicia. When Felicia and Evan arrived we proceeded to walk the mall for two hours! Cooper did great at first but then got cranky so I pulled out the Baby Bjorn and put him in it and voila! - calm baby Cooper (phew!). BTW - he did not scream on the way TO the mall but he DID scream on the way home.
Once home, I got him in his swing and I made dinner (aka microwaved my NS meal). It wasn't long before the fussing began so at 7 pm I put him in the Baby Bjorn, got Hunter leashed up and took the two of them for a nice hour-long walk on the paseo path. I thought for sure he'd be worn out enough to not scream once we got home (that's 3.5 hours of walking today! - I BETTER have lost a pound or two LOL). Anyway, I was wrong about him being too tired to scream. I gave him his PM Zantac dose at 8 pm and from then until 9:30 pm he screamed on and off. Bob called while he was screaming and started talking to him on the speaker phone and Cooper calmed down long enough to give daddy some cute cooing but then resumed the screaming. He ate and then screamed, he burped and then screamed, he got a nice new dry diaper and kept screaming. I rocked him and he'd stop for a minute then start up again so finally I swaddled him at 9:30 pm and he calmed down and fell asleep - yay! We're in the family room again - same set up as last night. This time, when he wakes up to eat and be changed, I'll wrap him back up after he eats and hope for another stretch of time and not the hourly nonsense. Oh, and just like last night, I'm still in my daytime clothes and I'm too tired to go upstairs and change into PJs. Hunter will be lucky if I can get off the couch and let her out before I pass out. I'd better do that now and then try to get some sleep before pooper gets up.
Oh - for Wednesday I'm considering doing a surprise visit to one of the day care centers that we're on the wait list for and one that we haven't seen yet. Cooper is registered at one that we don't really like (as last resort) and wait listed for one we do like. Just in case he doesn't get to start at the one we like, I am checking out a third as a possible new back-up. But, I'd rather not bring Cooper with me and expose him to the germs of a ton of kids so I might wait til Bob is home and have him watch the baby while I go on Friday. I'll figure it out tomorrow.
Good night (I hope!) ;)
3 comments:
Don't you just love the creative things we come up with as mothers in order for a shower, sleep and food? Here's to the both of us getting more sleep in the VERY near future. *hugs*
I read your blog, but have never commented. I have 3 kids and just wanted to pass on a little advice. Swaddle him ALL the time!! It is the only remedy for all that crying. He is overstimulated and doesn't have the ability to calm himself. While in the stroller/carseat buckled in, wrap the swaddle blanket around him like a mummy. Strap those arms down tight tucking the blanket in around him. I promise he'll do better immediately. In the swing, same thing. Wrap him up (at least his arms) while buckling him in still. Do it a day and see if you see a difference. Good luck! I hope you don't mind the advice, just my 2 cents of what has worked for me.
Hi Stacey - thanks for reading AND for commenting :) - you're welcome to comment any time! Thank you for the suggestion! I'm going to try that when I put him in the carseat for running some errands today - thanks! I'll let you know how it goes when I post how the day went. :)
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