Don't Mess With My Routine, Fool!

Yesterday was a strange day. Although it was a day off (ha!) for me I, of course, had a long list of things I felt I needed to do. Audrey was up at 7:30 am so our morning routine was nurse, eat cereal, play, nurse, nap. During nap time I usually write my blog. She napped for about two hours I fed her and then we ventured out to do chores. Unfortunately this involved a lot of driving around to different places. Such as picking up special protein reduced cat food from the vet's, dropping off a cheque at the church office, and going to the mall. We had to get a gift for our neighbors who just had a baby and we got them a card as well as a birthday card for Peter who's birthday is this Sunday. This all took a lot longer than I had planned. By the time I was picking out cards Little A was so done with shopping. I quickly picked a couple of cards and we high tailed it outta there.

I wasn't too surprised that she fell asleep on the way home. I brought her in, took off her jacket and booties and fed her. I thought I was so smooth. I slipped her into her bed and she immediately opened her eyes. She's tired, I thought, she'll fall asleep again. Not a chance. It was definitely nap time but she wasn't having it. Fine. Punish me. We got a call from our neighbors who wanted to go for a walk. Since she wasn't sleeping anyway I agreed. For almost the entire walk Audrey was whining or crying. Her little friend Sam just looked at her from his stroller as if to say “What up?”. Not too long before we arrived home she fell asleep. I thought I'd be able to slip her into bed and she'd be down for a bit. Nope. She woke up while my neighbor and I were saying goodbye in front of our house. She played happily by herself while I made supper and then she was a total bear for the remainder of the night. Nothing made her happy. I was determined to get her back on track and we kept her up till bedtime. We went next door to give our neighbors their baby gift. Our neighbor looked exhausted. Even though Audrey was crying the entire time we were there I appreciated not having a brand new baby as well as a two year old to look after. We came home gave baby A a bath (she's always happy in the bath), got her jammies on, I nursed her and she was off to dreamland. Sigh.

So, what did I learn from that crazy day? No matter how much I have to do 'stuff' or how much I want to go for a walk, don't mess with the routine. My girl, she thrives on her routine. She is like clockwork. Two hours – three hours after she wakes up she's ready to nap. In a stroller? No. In a car seat? Not unless you are going to be driving for two hours. She naps at my mom's or at my sister's but not as easily or for as long. The nap must be had in her bed. Sometime when I lay her down and she's not totally asleep I swear I see this look on her face that says “Ah, my bed. My room. My spa music.” It's cute really. I just feel a bit tied down sometimes.

I have several friends with young babies and they just take them everywhere, whenever, nap time or not. I am in awe of these mom's. How marvelous that must be. Then I wonder if I am doing something wrong. Or maybe I'm just a wimp for not wanting to do things unless it fits within our (her) schedule? Am I ruining her life and causing her to think that she will always get her way, we will always do what she wants when she wants it in case the world blows up?

I don't think so. I think this is just who she is. Actually, I happen to enjoy those two – three hour naps. So I can't go for a walk right then. Big deal. I can clean, do laundry, cook, read blogs, write blogs, comment on blogs, read blogs. Oh wait, did I say that already? When all is right with her world (long naps in her own bed) she is the happiest baby. She plays happily, eats happily, is fun to be around, doesn't cry incessantly and goes to bed at 9:30 every night usually not waking up for ten hours. When all is not right with her world (yesterday) she is happy for short periods of time, cries a lot, throws her head backwards with frustration, cannot be pleased in any way, goes to bed at 9:30 and wakes up at 4:50 the next morning! Ick. Today is a new day. A better day. She is currently snoozing in her spa room and loving every minute of it. And so am I. So if other mom's can pack up their children and travel the world, good for them. We'll just be at home, doing our thing.