The last couple of nights Z has been really hard to handle in the evenings. She cries, hasn’t been eating her last bottle of the evening and has been going to bed around 8 or 9 on what I think is an almost empty tummy and somehow, amazingly, sleeping through the night still. It sounds to me like her cries are exhausted cries but now that she is getting older, we are having a hard time decoding her cries. When she was just a few weeks old, we could tell if she was hungry, bored, gassy, over-stimulated, etc. We had them all down and when someone would say “Someone needs to feed the poor baby!” we could easily chime in and say “Nope, that is her gassy cry.. she must have some bad gas right now” and it made us feel so confident in this parenting gig.
But times have changed and we’re on to the Screaming Child With Out Of Options Parents phase. We’ve changed her diaper, we’ve tried to feed her, we’ve tried to give her a pacifier, we’ve rocked her, we’ve laid her down, we’ve burped her… NOW WHAT?! I guess sometimes you just have to comfort them and cross your fingers that the crying will subside eventually. I mean, it can’t last forever, right? RIGHT?!
So Gene put her in the co-sleeper and she eventually settled herself to sleep. And he fell asleep right next to her on the bed. I did dishes and washed bottles. Now I’m unwinding a little before I hit the sack myself. It’s not even 10 PM but I am feeling a little exhausted from the crazy evening we had. The pest guy is coming to spray the house at 8:30 AM so we are heading out for some morning shopping whenever he is done. I can’t stand to be in the house after he sprays because the smell causes my asthma to flair up. But it’s totally worth the chemical-smell because do you know how many DEAD spiders I find in our house??? A LOT. Did I mention that they are already dead when I find them?? I have to smash, maybe, ONE spider per year! I heart our pest guy!
3 Comments
Crystal on August 6, 2009 at 9:37 pm.
I have a pest guy, too. But it’s called my cat. And he only catches mice. I say only, but really, that’s enough. Damn mice.
Laura on August 7, 2009 at 3:47 pm.
Andrew never had separate cries. Or if he did, I never figured them out. The truth is, he didn’t cry that much. He only fussed here and there. He wouldn’t even cry when he was hungry (hence the whole him losing weight thing – I had no idea he wasn’t getting enough). He just wasn’t a complainer – still isn’t. A lot of people think having a baby who doesn’t cry much is great, but honestly it just meant we never knew what he needed. Which is way more frustrating than hearing a hungry cry. ;)
*hugs*
Jessica on August 9, 2009 at 5:55 pm.
Oh, I feel for you.
Addison has days like that, even now at 9 months. It’s miserable, but few and far between. Hopefully Zoey will settle for you! :)