Saturday, 18 September 2010
Today was Isla’s baby shower.
According to the invitation, though, it was really a “welcome the babies party,” which must, in some way, differ slightly from a shower. The party was also for Isla’s cousin Asa. He was born eight days after Isla, so he still needed to be welcomed, too.
Invitees were told they didn’t have to bring gifts, and some people did not. But some people did bring gifts, especially people who hadn’t seen the babies before. A few awesome gifts: diapers! Cash! Gift cards!
Soon after we arrived, my father-in-law informed me that there was beer in the basement fridge. He quickly followed this up by stating that it was Lenie’s. See, he usually has MGD in a can, so bottled Leinie’s was a nice treat. I came with two six-packs, too.
There was a bonfire in the evening and, man, kids LOVE bonfires. Owen just can’t stay away from them. I think it’s good that the kids had some safe entertainment in the evening. Don’t worry, a few guys – with Leinie’s in hand – were keeping close watch.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
I seem to have four kinds of nights:
1 – It takes about an hour, but I eventually fall asleep, and then I sleep pretty decently.
2 – I’m so tired/drunk that I fall asleep right away, but then I wake up 3 or 4 hours later and find it impossible to fall asleep
3 – I’m worried/nervous about something, so I go in and out of light sleep, getting about 4 hours of sleep over the 8 hour night
4 – I just never fall asleep
Last night was night #2. I feel asleep so quickly that I don’t even recall spending any amount of time in bed conscious. Isla was laying on my chest and, about two hours later, Jennifer woke me up and said Isla was probably in a deep enough sleep by now and I could set her in her little bed-within-a-bed. So I did, and then I again immediately fell asleep. But then I woke up two hours after that – I was hot, my heart was pounding, and I was inexplicably worried about some unknown thing. I got up and used the bathroom, poured myself some water, sat down in the living room and worked on a video for a while. 45 minutes after waking up, I laid back down in bed.
Less than ten minutes went by before I heard crying. I almost couldn’t believe it – who was crying at a time like this? I sat up and listened, then I heard the crying again; it was Owen. Jennifer was so deep asleep that she wasn’t even stirring, so I got up and went into Owen’s room. I asked him what the problem was, and he said he’d been lying there for a long time and couldn’t get to sleep. So I laid down in bed with him. I was cold, so I got right under the blankets.
After about twenty minutes, I got up and left the room. This morning, Owen told me that he woke back up from the sound of me leaving his room, but that he fell back to sleep soon after.
Poor kid, he has the same sleep problems that I do.
Monday, 20 September 2010
Tonight, I decided to go to sleep early. I offered to bring Isla with me to bed, so that Jennifer could spend some quality time with her best friend (her laptop). I carried Isla into the bedroom very gently. When I got into the bedroom, I noticed my pillow was in an odd place. (I’m not sure who moves my pillow during the course of the day, but it looks like the handiwork of a five year old.) Ever so carefully, I moved the pillow back into place with my deft toe skills. Then I real slowly sat down in bed, brought my legs up, turned, and laid down. Isla didn’t stir at all; she stayed right on my chest breathing deeply. I reached up to my nightstand, which is an awkward task when lying on one’s back, and grabbed my lip balm. Even while balancing a baby on my chest, I still managed to apply the lip balm. I then drew up the blanket and set it just right on both of us. A few moments later, I remembered that I hadn’t turned on my alarm clock, so I again reached up to the clock and, using thumb and index finger, turned on the clock. While doing that, one of my other fingers accidentally hit that stupid button that turns on the radio for 59 minutes. Suddenly the room was filled with loud, blaring music and I quickly tried to turn it off, but there’s no off button for that function. I tried to lower the volume, but instead I just tuned the radio to a bunch of noisy static. Of course, Isla woke up and she was up for most of the next hour.
I absolutely, positively, completely hate combination products. I don’t want a camera on my phone, a scanner in my printer, or a clock on my microwave. At some point during my lifetime, manufacturers came up with the lousy idea of shoving as many features into a product as possible. The outcome nearly always sucks. If I want to take a picture, I’ll use a quality camera. If I want to scan something into my computer, I’ll use a good scanner. And when I purchase an alarm clock, that’s all I want it to do: track the time until I need to wake up, then make a noise.
That “59 minutes of music if you push this” button has been on nearly every alarm clock I’ve ever owned and, like car alarms, it’s never served any purpose. It’s just something that annoys me every once in a while and that I continually wish didn’t exist. And here’s the real kicker: I only ever accidentally push that button when I’m trying to be quiet. Because, see, if Jennifer and I are going to bed at the same time, or if I’m going to bed by myself, then I can have the light on and I can be as loud as I want in getting ready for bed. But when I try to quietly sneak into bed after Jennifer’s gone to sleep, or when I’m holding a slumbering baby, then – only then – I can not see what I’m doing…and I hit that stupid button.
Soon, possibly tomorrow evening, I’m gonna try to deactivate that option on my alarm clock. I’ll let you know how it goes.
My last two alarm clocks used the snooze button as the off switch for the “59 minutes of music if you push this button” button. And when you use that to shut it off, it doesn’t come back on after nine minutes like the radio usually does when you push the snooze.
I don’t remember how the alarm clock before those two worked, but I remember not being able to turn off that function in any convenient way. I think I had to hold down the button and it would count down quickly from fifty-nine minutes and shut off when it got to zero.
Yes – that’s exactly the problem I have w/ that function, too. I have to hold down the “backwards” button until it gets to 1. There’s no zero, though, so if I hold it down just a little too long, it circles back to 59 minutes. Even when I get it down to 1, I still have to wait that one minute for the radio to turn off. Since I don’t want to bother anyone else who might be sleeping in the room, I turn down the volume, sit there until a minute has gone by, then turn up the volume (hoping it’s back at the perfect level), then set my alarm, then get to bed.
1. You know, it’s really not safe to co-sleep with a baby (especially with her on your chest!) when you have had stuff to drink. I totally forgot that you had drank that night. I should have made you sleep on the couch!
2. My lap-top is not my best friend! I just do a lot of work and recreation on it, so it is well used.
What you have is a fancy clock radio what you need to get is the cheap i.e. $5 alarm clock from your discount store of choice and you wouldn’t have this problem.
Jennifer-I don’t think I had so much to drink that it impaired my ability to sleep in bed next to a baby. I was probably even under the legal limit for driving.
Bob-Right you are, sir! I love it when the best solution is also the least expensive solution. As I said in my post, though, I’m gonna try deactivating that button first. If I can do that, then I’ll be able to live with that clock for the time being.
I think the advice is that you shouldn’t co-sleep with an infant if you are AT ALL in situation #2 — whether it be alcohol/drug induced or not.
David is right. If you are that tired for any reason you shouldn’t be co-sleeping. If you’ve had enough to drink to make you more tired and sleep more deeply, then you’ve had too much to sleep next to a baby. Next time let me know and I can put Isla on my side of the bed instead of the middle.
Yes, you’re both right. But it’s difficult to tell if situation #2 is going to come into play.
I’ll be more conscientious next time.