October 22

What a day.

I don't even really have words for it. Not terrible, just exhausting.

Caleb woke up from his nap at 3:30. He always comes to ask me if he can be awake yet, which I think is funny. What's not funny is that on days like today - when he had only napped for two hours instead of his typical three - he flips out if I tell him he needs to go back to bed for a little bit. Today, his screaming and crying was so loud that he woke up Lily.

No big deal, I thought. She's been asleep for almost three hours. She'll go back to sleep right before dinner, and everything will be fine.

I am a fool.

This is Lily helping me with dinner.

She's still not quite ready for the Bumbo; she tried valiantly, but her head lolled around pretty quickly.

She didn't want to be in her swing, though, and fussed when I put her in her play gym, so I had to come up with some other options that would still allow me to make dinner.

Next up: ring sling. 

I used this sling and nothing else when Caleb was a baby. When I learned I was pregnant with Daisy, I bought an Ergo and a Moby wrap, which was good because once she came, Caleb was very protective of "his" sling. He wouldn't let me put Daisy in it. Now he doesn't remember it at all, so it's fair game for Lily.

I love how Caleb is totally bombing this photo.

But no matter how I wore her, Lily didn't like the sling, so I took her out. Just then, Daisy woke from her nap and was inexplicably crying and needed to be held/snuggled/tended to. So I put her on my back in the ring sling.

That's when Caleb lost it. He didn't understand that 24-pound Daisy on my back is very different from 40-pound Caleb on my back, especially in a less-structured carrier like this. Poor kid. It's hard being four. 

Finally I was able to continue making dinner. Lily did not sleep. Chris came home. I nursed Lily. She did not sleep. Bedtime came. I nursed Lily. She did not sleep. 

The toilet began leaking today at our rental property, so Chris had to go out there, leaving me with three "sleeping" children.

Ha.

I nursed Lily for 90 minutes. 90 minutes.

Nothing. 

Meanwhile, Caleb talked. Daisy sang to herself. Lily screamed.

I finally got all three settled down, but Lily was still awake. 

This is a girl who had been awake for five and a half hours. Normally for Lily, two hours is her max.

Look at her. Totally mocking me. 

"What, ma? You want me to sleep? Ha!"

It's a good thing she's so darn cute.

I finally got her to sleep at 9:23, after trying for over two hours. But she just started squawking again after being asleep for 30 minutes.  Luckily, Chris just got home, bearing a decaf pumpkin spice latte to soothe my frayed nerves. This mama needs some sleep!