Laundry Day

Tuesday is the unofficial laundry day at our house, with another load or two being done on Friday or so. Which means, Tuesdays suck.

It start by gathering it all up from the 3 hampers and baskets scattered all over the house (which is more difficult than it sounds by the fact that 2 of those move on a regular basis), then sorting it into 4 different loads (lights, darks, blankets and towels, and cloth diapers). Then I have to head out to the garage (down the treacherous stairs inside, out the door, and down more stairs) to put it into the washer, then go back out to change it. I have the joyous job of doing this numerous times a week, summer and winter, all year round.

Doing all that is the easy part. It's when the washer is done and I have to sort what goes in the dryer and what needs to be hung up by the fire to dry. And then I get to hang it, and fold it, then put it away.

All this takes hours, pretty much all day depending on when I start... which used to be as soon as I got up, but now I have a baby to worry about too, and now the all day laundry job takes even longer (now I have to do more in the morning). And there is even more laundry, what with the baby peeing through diapers and spitting up on everyone, including himself, and in his bed.

All this to say, I hate Tuesdays.

Fighting Sleep

Lately, the past few days, it's been a fight to get H. to sleep during the day. At night, no problems, but during the day he's fighting the tiredness that's overwhelming him.

Right now, as of this very moment, H. has been awake for 6 of the last 6.5 hours... and not for my (and his) lack of trying... I've done everything that usually works... rocking him, feeding him, snuggling him, letting him lie in his crib watching his mobile, letting him kick his feet on his play mat... nothing. He's still awake, getting progressively grumpier.

At least for now he's quiet, sitting in his swing. Knowing my luck, that won't last too long.

Oh my!

I'm not sure if I had mentioned this before, but my son is VERY stubborn.

He has taken to not sleeping during the day, which I would be ok with, if not for the fact that he becomes very crotchety at around 6pm. And at that time, nothing can stop his crying for more than a few seconds. We've had 3 days like this, and I really don't know how much longer I can handle that! It takes hours to calm him down, and to get enough food into him to get him full enough to sleep.

It's noon now, and he's been asleep for about 15 minutes now... which makes about 45 minutes of sleep since 7:30am. I hope it lasts this time.

Until he wakes up, I have tonnes to do... there are dishes that have been calling my name for days now, that absolutely need to be put in the dishwasher... there are some cloth diapers soaking in a tub in the bathroom that need to be lugged downstairs to put hung up by the fire to dry... and as in any home with a newborn, there is a pile of laundry that needs to be dealt with (and buying new clothes to replace the dirty ones is no longer an option).

Busy, busy, busy... but I'll only have to do all of that if H. sleeps... I can't decide if I want him awake or not!

Burp, then sleep.

Anyone who meets my son, whether he is asleep or awake, is always astounded at how noisy he is. He makes the most unnecessary noises, all the time... he moans when he's eating, snores when he's sleeping, and "talks" when he's awake. And he makes boy noises too... groans (loudly) when he's working on a poop, laughs after said poop, and burps as loud as any adult I know.

A few hours ago when I did his 3am feeding, he was falling asleep while eating, so I quickly burped him, rather successfully, if you catch my drift, and put him down in his crib. He still had his eyes closed, so I thought he would just get comfortable and fall right asleep. 10 minutes later, I'm still sitting beside his crib, waiting for him to stop fidgeting. It's pretty unusual for him to move around so much without making any crying noises as he's falling asleep. So, I got up to check to make sure everything was alright, and to see if his eyes were still closed. As I was approaching the crib, H. lets out one of the hugest belches I have ever heard from him... and then sighs in relief and promptly falls right to sleep. I love the way he burps himself after I burp him.

9:17!!!

After numerous days of H. waking up for the day at 7am, he slept today until 9:17! He still had feedings at 2:30am and 6am, but I am excited by this. Or perhaps I just had enough sleep that I'm not grumpy...He is now asleep in my arms.

Oh, I love my son!

A very grumpy H.

It's now half past 11 in the morning, and in the last 12 hours H. has slept maybe 6 of those. That makes for a very grumpy 6-week old. He's been quiet in his crib for approximately 3 minutes now (a record in the last few hours) and I'm hoping this is it, and he'll sleep for a good few hours. But, like every other time there has been a measure of quiet this morning, he'll most likely spit his soother out, then become inconsolable. Oh joy.

Tanty Staci

My sister is quite the interesting person, anyone will tell you that... she show up at my house on her days off work to hang out, and lately, to see her nephew.

It's been a while since she saw H. awake and happy (last time she was here, he was grumpy). Since she was last here, he has started smiling and trying to copy different facial expressions. It was so cute watching them together. They must have sat on the couch for 5 minutes just laughing at each other. So cute.

Another cool thing that happened today was H. managed to sleep while we were out. Usually he stays awake, and gets progressively crankier as the day wears on. Now he's just a little cranky, but he's almost asleep.

And I managed to find sunglasses that don't make me look like a bug. And they're purple! I am so amazed. My face shape makes finding sunglasses a challenge, to say the least. But Stace helped me find some, and I am excited for the sun to come out so I can use them. And I have to remember not to sit on them... that fate befell the last pair I owned, almost 8 years ago.

All in all, a good day.