First off I would like to apologize to family and friends I was supposed to skype with on Sunday. It was a hectic weekend, mostly in a good way. Friday had no plans but ended up meeting up with our friends M and A and their two boys for a walk in the park, followed by accompanying M to on the first hair cut of her youngest boy. Her son fell asleep in the stroller on the way there and the hairdresser, a special one who only does children, was able to cut the hair while the boy slumbered on his mother's sholder. He didn't wake up for the entire hair cut! Being close to so many friends for this impromptu meet ups is something we really enjoy about living where we do in Amsterdam.
Friday night we had a babysitter who showed up as normal, and OH & I went out to see comedy! English-language stand up can be quite hit or miss in this town but most of the acts were good and the Munchkin obliged by not waking up until we'd gotten home and I'd had time to process all the alcohol out of my bloodstream*.
Saturday we had a lovely Normal Day. We were supposed to meet up with a friend for lunch but this ended up falling through as she is busy with school and a new job to exhaust her. OH and I know all about exhaustion, so it doesn't bother us at all. Instead we went to the market to stock up on veg and protein for the week. I did some veggie prep and OH did a bit of cleaning, we tag teamed watching the little one, and generally did very little at all.
Sunday morning I had the very special treat of sleeping in. Normally we try to alternate so that one of us gets a turn each at sleeping in each weekend morning. Baby schedules and illness don't always allow that so I hadn't had the luxury in a long time. Usually sleeping in means around 8:30, 9am. This Sunday however the munchkin was very fussy so we tried laying her in bed for a bit of sleepy-nursing. This is where the little one is in bed with mama, sleeping right next to the boob. Anytime you hear a bit of stirring - slap that baby on the boob. Generally they nurse a bit and fall right back to sleep. Mama doesn't get really any sleep this way but these days I'll take the facsimile. This usually doesn't work with our Munchkin who apparently hates sleep, but for whatever reason we laid in bed until 10:20! I can't even remember the last time I lay in bed until 10am, folks.
Unfortunately the reason she was so sleep was less positive as we later found out. Because of our amazing late morning start, we were a bit late to our birth group luncheon meet up. We have managed to see our birth group friends quite reguarly and it is such a pleasure to discuss how things are going with our same-aged babies and to watch them all grow in different ways. The munchkin remained very sleepy, fussy, and wanting to nurse the whole lunch. Eventually we noticed the pattern and also that she was feeling a bit warm. We had planned to check out a market on the way back but went straight home to confirm the little one had a fever. Thanks to taking the temperature incorrectly** I almost had a panic attack thinking she was gravely sick. She still had a fever but OH had a calm head - we have been lucky, one of us always manages to prevail in these cases. She was super fussy all afternoon, a pill to get to bed, and woke up many times during the night. I had a chance to repay the cool head Sunday night (well Monday morning technically) when I was up for an hour and a half trying to get the Sleepless Wonder to sleep. We have a rule in our house that when you start swearing at your infant child it's time for the other one to tag in. Usually when the other one does, for some reason she will immediately settle.
Needless to say I am extra sleep-deprived retarded this morning, and unfortunately so was the little one. An eventful weekend to say the least!
*you cannot breastfeed a child after drinking alcohol, you need to wait about 2 hours per unit of booze - similar to if you are driving a car.
** helpful hint - don't do it straight out of the wrap as they are warmed like a burrito in there.
Friday night we had a babysitter who showed up as normal, and OH & I went out to see comedy! English-language stand up can be quite hit or miss in this town but most of the acts were good and the Munchkin obliged by not waking up until we'd gotten home and I'd had time to process all the alcohol out of my bloodstream*.
Saturday we had a lovely Normal Day. We were supposed to meet up with a friend for lunch but this ended up falling through as she is busy with school and a new job to exhaust her. OH and I know all about exhaustion, so it doesn't bother us at all. Instead we went to the market to stock up on veg and protein for the week. I did some veggie prep and OH did a bit of cleaning, we tag teamed watching the little one, and generally did very little at all.
Sunday morning I had the very special treat of sleeping in. Normally we try to alternate so that one of us gets a turn each at sleeping in each weekend morning. Baby schedules and illness don't always allow that so I hadn't had the luxury in a long time. Usually sleeping in means around 8:30, 9am. This Sunday however the munchkin was very fussy so we tried laying her in bed for a bit of sleepy-nursing. This is where the little one is in bed with mama, sleeping right next to the boob. Anytime you hear a bit of stirring - slap that baby on the boob. Generally they nurse a bit and fall right back to sleep. Mama doesn't get really any sleep this way but these days I'll take the facsimile. This usually doesn't work with our Munchkin who apparently hates sleep, but for whatever reason we laid in bed until 10:20! I can't even remember the last time I lay in bed until 10am, folks.
Unfortunately the reason she was so sleep was less positive as we later found out. Because of our amazing late morning start, we were a bit late to our birth group luncheon meet up. We have managed to see our birth group friends quite reguarly and it is such a pleasure to discuss how things are going with our same-aged babies and to watch them all grow in different ways. The munchkin remained very sleepy, fussy, and wanting to nurse the whole lunch. Eventually we noticed the pattern and also that she was feeling a bit warm. We had planned to check out a market on the way back but went straight home to confirm the little one had a fever. Thanks to taking the temperature incorrectly** I almost had a panic attack thinking she was gravely sick. She still had a fever but OH had a calm head - we have been lucky, one of us always manages to prevail in these cases. She was super fussy all afternoon, a pill to get to bed, and woke up many times during the night. I had a chance to repay the cool head Sunday night (well Monday morning technically) when I was up for an hour and a half trying to get the Sleepless Wonder to sleep. We have a rule in our house that when you start swearing at your infant child it's time for the other one to tag in. Usually when the other one does, for some reason she will immediately settle.
Needless to say I am extra sleep-deprived retarded this morning, and unfortunately so was the little one. An eventful weekend to say the least!
*you cannot breastfeed a child after drinking alcohol, you need to wait about 2 hours per unit of booze - similar to if you are driving a car.
** helpful hint - don't do it straight out of the wrap as they are warmed like a burrito in there.
3 comments:
Sleep deprivation, my biggest fear going into (hopefully) parenthood. Ugh. I'm sure there are more important things to worry about though.
LCJ, you'll be okay! Maybe a live-in nanny? Wet nurse à la Ye Olde Times? :)
Don't give him those ideas Alexis. Let him be sleep deprived like all the rest of us have been!
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