Monday, September 6, 2010

Rough couple of days

Darren came home on Thursday night, late.  We had a nice day on Friday and went out to dinner with Eric and Angela on Friday night.  Then Darren left again first thing Saturday morning and I am by myself again through Friday night.  This is going to be an extremely long week.  Saturday and Sunday were tough.  There was a lot of fussiness, and a little bit of sleep.  I know this is normal, but I don't like handling it all by myself.  I like the break that having Darren around gives me.  I know he wants to be home too.  The extra money from him being in NY is nice, but I'm really hoping we don't have to do it again next month.  I'd rather have him home.  I haven't been out of the house since I took him to the airport at 6am Saturday morning.  I am going to take Natali out to walk around the mall today.  We need to just go out for a while and its still too hot for me to want to walk around the neighborhood.  I'd like to go today even though it might be busy with Labor Day because tomorrow we are supposed to be getting a tropical system moving through and they are predicting heavy rain and possible flooding.

I think the hardest part of being with Natali by myself is her unpredictable sleep patterns.  If I knew when and how long she would be asleep for it would so much easier for me.  I will put her down and try to start something and then I have a screaming baby 5 or 10 minutes later and a half finished task that sits there until who knows when.  Other times I put her down thinking she will wake up soon, but she sleeps for 3 hours and the whole time she is asleep I'm afraid to start anything because she might wake up any minute.  That is the most frustrating part for me.  I am learning to deal with it though.How do you interact with an almost 4 week old?  There has to be more than just feeding and diaper changes, right?  She does spend a decent amount of time awake and I know those periods are going to get longer.  There isn't much I can do with her right now though.  I talk to her and do tummy time with her, and I shake rattles and infant toys in her face.  I sing a whole range of different songs to her, put her hands on things with different textures, and read books.  We are working through the poems in "Where The Sidewalk Ends" right now.  I ordered a collection of Dr. Seuss that should arrive tomorrow.  I'm just concerned there isn't more I should be doing with her?

2 comments:

  1. Ok, I have to comment again! :) You need the 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child' book. That will solve her mystery sleep patterns and make your life SO much better. :) As far as interacting with a 4 week old.. good luck! They really do just eat, sleep and poop. My 8 week old started smiling more recently and sort of interacting. She notices things and can be "entertained" for longer periods by my older 2 girls or her little entertainment gym. Time goes by quick, Natali will be sitting up and crawling before you know it. A newborn is like a new adventure, no matter how many babies you have! This is number 3 and I can't even remember how this rodeo goes. When to start cereal, foods to avoid etc... You are doing a great job!

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  2. Thanks Krissy! That book is available on my Kindle so I will definitely read it. All help and advice is much appreciated! :-)

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