There are hard moments, hard days and then there are hard weeks. Lucky for me, this is usually where it ends. I can't remember having ENTIRE hard months or years. Yet a hard week can feel eternal. I feel like I've aged 2 years, at the very least, this past week.
Lack of sleep is the culprit. Public Enemy Numero Uno in our house. From this stems all other evils - grumpiness, lack of patience, achy body, headache, messy house, subpar meal planning (the other day I had 2 girl scout cookies, chips and salsa, and a cheese stick for lunch - simultaneously), overgrown eyebrows...etc, etc. Why the sudden slumber-shattering epidemic, you ask? The MILK MONSTER (as LO has lovingly named her baby sis). How dare this baby come into our life and turn things upside down??? Three months later. How cruel.
We thought we hit the mother of all jackpots when ML was born. She slept a few hours at a time, had zero problems latching on and displayed a pleasant demeanor. She seemed content to be out of the womb and happy to be part of our little family. ML went with the flow and our attention seemed to be more on LO and her constant shenanigans. I often thought: "This is easy breezy. Sign me up for another." In contrast, I thought seriously about getting my tubes tied after LO's birth.
"SUPER MAMA," as LO calls me from time-to-time (more out of her fascination with superheroes and less to do with my awesomeness), began to feel like an accurate nickname for me. I was really handling it all - with ease and grace. Ok, let's not go that far. But I was managing to take daily showers, cook dinners and tweeze my eyebrows (this eyebrow situation is really bothering me). I only occasionally shoplifted gallons of milk and forgot to pay LO's ballet classes once. Not too shabby for this new mom of two!
But I got overconfident. I underestimated my little sweet peanut. It turns out that she has a personality. She has needs and has tricks up her sleeves. Tricks like suckering me into nursing her every 1.5 hours at night. Tricks like screaming when her head touches anything other than flesh. Which means now she needs to be held the greater part of the day. Tricks like ALWAYS getting fussy right at dinnertime so that P holds her football style all through the meal. Tricks like pushing the pacifier out of her mouth and making a sour face as if it tastes like rotten eggs. Tricks like practicing her verbal skills at 4 in the morning. Cooing and babbling is not so adorable in the wee hours of the night. Actually, she is still rather delectably sweet. P and I find ourselves admiring her cuteness through moonlight and bleary eyes. And then we realize we are crazy to waste precious sleep minutes staring at this creature that will awaken again within the hour.
And now I have to run, my friends, because the Milk Monster has figured out that she has been duped. I managed to trick her for 25 minutes into thinking that the rocking motion was coming from the rocking chair and my arms and not the mechanical swing. She did not like that very much.
See, mama has some tricks up her sleeves too. Yet I'm clearly still losing this game.
Can I just forfeit and ask for a rematch after I've slept for 3 days straight?
