Lainey's naps for the last couple of days have been about 10-20 minutes long, and that's if I am even able to put her down. Half the time I set her down and she immediately wakes up. I WAS GOING CRAZY. So I asked Ho'oulu to pick up some rice cereal on his way home from work last night. I had heard that that can help bebes sleep sometimes (I know I sleep better on a full stomach). So today it was the same story: she was so cranky but wouldn't stay asleep for a nap. I got her to calm down (and stop screaming at the top of her lungs) with my iPod and her favorite song, but she still wouldn't sleep. So I decided to try the rice cereal, even though I wanted to save it for tonight (it has a lot of iron, which can constipate you, and I don't want to overload her little body so I was planning to give it to her one time later in the evening to help her sleep through the night).
The cereal calls for 4 tablespoons of breast milk and 1/4 tablespoon of cereal. When I left to prepare it Lainey lost her mind and started screaming again (of course), so I didn't even pump; I straight up milked myself into a bowl! The things mothers do for love, amirite? So I didn't actually measure, I just added tiny baby-spoon-sized scoops of rice cereal until it was a little bit thick.
Before I could feed her I had to calm her down. I let her hold my iPod while it played her song ("No Matter Where You Are" by Us th Duo) and I put her pacifier in her mouth. She calmed down enough that she at least opened her eyes, which was all I needed. I pretended to take a bite of the mixture, which had her reaching for the spoon, as I knew it would. At this point we were sitting on my bed, so I didn't let her hold the spoon but I fed her a little bite.
She made a hilarious, disgusted face! I wish I had it on camera, it was so funny. But then she was reaching for more. She couldn't get enough! After many messy spoonfuls, I picked her up to try and rock her to sleep. She grunted a bit in protest and tried to keep her head up, but she fell pretty quickly and stayed asleep when I set her down! AND SHE HAS BEEN ASLEEP FOR HOWEVER LONG I HAVE BEEN WRITING THIS! Guys. Rice cereal. It's the business.
Now I know I should be doing dishes, washing dirty clothes or folding the clean ones that I never folded like three days ago (like I said, the kid hasn't been sleeping), but I just want to lie here in the quiet, messy living room and do nothing.
Being a mom is exhausting. I want to rip my hair out and scream and cry and more than anything I just want to sleep! But it's rewarding and all that, blah blah blah, cheesy cheesy.
I just really love this kid, no matter how many times she pukes on me.
Okay, yes that should have been included in the "cheesy cheesy" but she's too cute for me not to mention. :P
