Tuesday, February 20, 2007
I Need a Vacation
Yep, I'm back at work today. I've been off nearly two weeks, and quite frankly, it's not enough. I spent the first eight days looking after my little girl while her mother was vacationing in Cuba.
I was pretty stressed out preparing to look after Brynn, but once she was at our place, The Squeeze and I couldn't get enough of her. It took a day or two for her to get used to the house and the two big men who clearly were not her mother. It took me a few days to get into her routine as well. Seven month old babies have a whole slew of rules and procedures and schedules. Rule number one is that schedules are subject to change on their whim.
I seemed to be doing ok with feeding, changing, napping, playing and entertaining. The bedtime routine was a bit tough. Nothing is more heartbreaking than to see your little girl sobbing while she gets her nightly bath before bedtime. Luckily, this only happened the first two nights, then she was back to her old splashing self. Yay me!
She slept pretty well at night, but I dread the time that she no longer needs that bottle at 5 am. There is just something magical about cradling my baby in my arm in the silent house while she has her bottle, touching my face and holding my fingers. I would sit on the bed in her room with just a sliver of light from the bathroom to push away the darkness and allow me to see the little angel I was holding, and gently rock her while she drank. After finishing her bottle and nuzzling into my neck until she gave up a burp, I would place her back into her crib and she would sleep for a couple more hours until we officially started our day together.
One morning I woke up to see The Squeeze getting dressed for work and noticed it was after 8 am, and panicked. "Oh my god, she didn't get up for her bottle. Something is wrong!" The Squeeze calmed me down and told me that he had given her the bottle that morning. She hadn't cried to announce her hunger, but he heard her moving around and chatting to herself. I just love how involved The Squeeze is in Brynn's life.
The day before Weezie got back from Cuba, I was getting ready to take Brynn to Hooterville to visit my folks. The killer snow storm we were walloped by the previous two days had finally stopped and the roads were clear. I prepared a couple of bottles, selected her food for lunch, stocked the diaper bag with diapers and wipes, and that's when I made a scary discovery. Six days earlier I took her to visit friends and I forgot that I had changed her and put the wet diaper in the end pocket of the diaper bag. Well, that wet diaper sat in there until today, and it certainly funkified that pocket. Several treatments of soap and disinfectant spray were no match for it, so I just decided to avoid using that pocket.
My parents just can't get enough of Brynn, and apparently the feeling is mutual. Brynn can be a very serious little girl at times, but when she sees Grandma, her whole face lights up and the arms and legs start flying.
The next day I took her back to Weezie's for the big reunion. It was sad to let her go, but I felt a lot of pride knowing that I did a great job of looking after her. It was strange to see Brynn crying when she saw Weezie. I'm sure she was quite happy to be back home with her mother, but I guess it's hard for babies to express their emotions at times. Perhaps it was delayed seperation anxiety. Who knows?
It was strange going back home after dropping her off and not having her with me. There was just a livingroom with an empty exersaucer on the floor. Luckily, our good friend FWG was there with me, so I wasn't able to wallow in my sadness.
Several friends have asked me how I liked looking after Brynn for over a week, expecting me to be exhausted and glad to have a baby-free house again, but you know, I would do it again in a heartbeat. It's tiring, it's endless work, it's a lot of baby talk and Treehouse TV, but I loved it. I understand why Weezie needed to get away for a week. Looking after two kids 24/7 can take a lot out of you, but when you don't have them with you, you sure wish you did.
I was pretty stressed out preparing to look after Brynn, but once she was at our place, The Squeeze and I couldn't get enough of her. It took a day or two for her to get used to the house and the two big men who clearly were not her mother. It took me a few days to get into her routine as well. Seven month old babies have a whole slew of rules and procedures and schedules. Rule number one is that schedules are subject to change on their whim.
I seemed to be doing ok with feeding, changing, napping, playing and entertaining. The bedtime routine was a bit tough. Nothing is more heartbreaking than to see your little girl sobbing while she gets her nightly bath before bedtime. Luckily, this only happened the first two nights, then she was back to her old splashing self. Yay me!
She slept pretty well at night, but I dread the time that she no longer needs that bottle at 5 am. There is just something magical about cradling my baby in my arm in the silent house while she has her bottle, touching my face and holding my fingers. I would sit on the bed in her room with just a sliver of light from the bathroom to push away the darkness and allow me to see the little angel I was holding, and gently rock her while she drank. After finishing her bottle and nuzzling into my neck until she gave up a burp, I would place her back into her crib and she would sleep for a couple more hours until we officially started our day together.
One morning I woke up to see The Squeeze getting dressed for work and noticed it was after 8 am, and panicked. "Oh my god, she didn't get up for her bottle. Something is wrong!" The Squeeze calmed me down and told me that he had given her the bottle that morning. She hadn't cried to announce her hunger, but he heard her moving around and chatting to herself. I just love how involved The Squeeze is in Brynn's life.
The day before Weezie got back from Cuba, I was getting ready to take Brynn to Hooterville to visit my folks. The killer snow storm we were walloped by the previous two days had finally stopped and the roads were clear. I prepared a couple of bottles, selected her food for lunch, stocked the diaper bag with diapers and wipes, and that's when I made a scary discovery. Six days earlier I took her to visit friends and I forgot that I had changed her and put the wet diaper in the end pocket of the diaper bag. Well, that wet diaper sat in there until today, and it certainly funkified that pocket. Several treatments of soap and disinfectant spray were no match for it, so I just decided to avoid using that pocket.
My parents just can't get enough of Brynn, and apparently the feeling is mutual. Brynn can be a very serious little girl at times, but when she sees Grandma, her whole face lights up and the arms and legs start flying.
The next day I took her back to Weezie's for the big reunion. It was sad to let her go, but I felt a lot of pride knowing that I did a great job of looking after her. It was strange to see Brynn crying when she saw Weezie. I'm sure she was quite happy to be back home with her mother, but I guess it's hard for babies to express their emotions at times. Perhaps it was delayed seperation anxiety. Who knows?
It was strange going back home after dropping her off and not having her with me. There was just a livingroom with an empty exersaucer on the floor. Luckily, our good friend FWG was there with me, so I wasn't able to wallow in my sadness.
Several friends have asked me how I liked looking after Brynn for over a week, expecting me to be exhausted and glad to have a baby-free house again, but you know, I would do it again in a heartbeat. It's tiring, it's endless work, it's a lot of baby talk and Treehouse TV, but I loved it. I understand why Weezie needed to get away for a week. Looking after two kids 24/7 can take a lot out of you, but when you don't have them with you, you sure wish you did.
# posted by Dave @ 5:15 PM 
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I knew you'd do a great job with Brynn! And how could she not love her daddy and his Squeeze? It was nice of FWG to be there for you. Did he know you'd be sad or was he just hanging?
Yep - I knew you'd do a good job, too.
This is the sweetest thing I've read in awhile. And I have to say that it almost made me want a baby again.
I said almost.
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This is the sweetest thing I've read in awhile. And I have to say that it almost made me want a baby again.
I said almost.
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