Mother of the Year

I blew it! My chances for Mother of the Year went out the window in the past two days. Okay...so maybe I wasn't in the running, but here's the deal -

Last night, I put Caleb in front of the TV so that we could have 20 minutes to eat dinner. I know, I know - shame on me! Here's a secret, though...it won't be the last time. He was being so clingy and fussy yesterday and just was not content in his swing, where he usually sits while we eat. Rudy and I had made a nice dinner and we really wanted to eat at the same time, so I put the bouncy seat in front of the TV, turned on the Baby channel (it's developmentally appropriate!) and sat down to a peaceful meal. Caleb loved the Baby channel with its bright colors and sing-song voices. We didn't leave him there long, but just the fact that I did it was enough to make me feel guilty.

Tonight, I was trying to clip Caleb's fingernails and took a plug out of his finger! He screamed bloody murder and I felt like a horrible person for making him bleed. He bled and bled and when it finally stopped, I swaddled him and laid him down to sleep. Oh, it's a good thing he won't remember it.

Tomorrow night, Rudy and I are going on our first grown-ups-only date since Caleb was born. We have dinner reservations at Sam's Steakhouse and then we are going to spend the night at a nice hotel in the city. Jerry and Sherry are keeping Caleb for us. Hopefully, we won't spend the whole night worrying about how he's doing. I'm sure I'll wake up during the night to "listen to the monitor", but hopefully I'll sleep peacefully, knowing he's in good hands.

Caleb is pretty consistently sleeping through the night now. He is getting on more of a sleep schedule. He usually sleeps from about 9:30 or 10:00 at night until about 4:30 in the morning. I get up and feed him and then put him back to bed. He sleeps from that point until about 7:00 or 8:00. Rudy gets up with him then, feeds him and goes for a walk with Caleb and Dewey. Sometimes, he'll take a little nap when they get back and sometimes he's just ready to talk and play with his Daddy. Rudy usually wakes me up around 10:00, because the only really good sleep I get is from the time he gets up with Caleb until then. It's just something about knowing that someone else is responsible for him and I don't have to listen for him to wake up - I really sleep hard during those few hours. Once I get up, we usually play and talk and then I feed Caleb before I have my lunch. Caleb sits in his swing while Rudy and I have lunch and usually falls asleep sometime around then either in his swing or in one of our laps. He doesn't sleep very long during the day! After he wakes up, it's feedings every 3 hours and a couple of catnaps here and there all mixed with playtime with whichever parent can play and some time in the swing and the bouncy seat. This is when we run errands or go out to do things outside of the house. Caleb begins to get pretty tired around 8:30. If he needs a bath, we do that before his bedtime bottle. When bedtime rolls around, I have the absolute joy of spending snuggle time with Caleb. I swaddle him, rock him and sing to him until he's almost asleep, then lay him down in his crib and we start the whole cycle over again. These are the best days of our lives!