We survived our little baby sitting experiment. Sorta. I went to bed around 12:20 last night (or this morning, I guess) and found guest baby sleeping on S.. As I shared yesterday, he’s got some health issues and had woken screaming and trying to breath, so she just brought him to our bed and held him until he passed out. Shortly after I got into bed, she took him back to his room. That lasted roughly ten minutes. He starts screaming again. About 30 seconds later, M. starts crying. We both jump out of bed. “You take M., I’ll sleep in guest baby’s room,” said S. as she stumbled down the hall.
Poor M. was in need of some Motrin, which I procured and offered quickly. I sat with her in her rocking chair, and she just dissolved into my chest. I held her until she was breathing deeply, then gently placed her back into her crib. As I was walking out the door, I heard her stir. I looked back and saw her peeking, tiredly, back at me, with a weary smile on her face. Melted my freaking heart.
When M. woke me at 6:15 Monday morning and I went to make her a bottle, I found S. and the guest baby in our living room. S. was sleeping on the couch, guest baby in his car seat. Poor little guy loves to sleep in his car seat! I guess having his upper body slightly elevated helps him breath easier.
Today was a constant juggle. We tried to get them to nap three times, with limited success. One baby would be happy, the other cranky. When the cranky baby was soothed, the other baby started fussing. When I left for class around 1:30, guest baby was sleeping in his room and M. was sleeping on her mom’s chest in our bed. I must have been the problem, because they were down for 2 1/2 hours. S. did get the pleasant experience of trying to feed two babies at once, too. She put guest baby in his car seat and held his bottle, while M. was in her exersaucer sucking down hers. When I got back from class, guest baby was in his car seat, S. and M. were on the couch, all three watching a Baby Einstein DVD.
So we made it through ok. A little tired, and a little frazzled at times. I used to think twins were a great idea. One pregnancy, two babies! Since our plan/hope is to have three, we could be done after one more pregnancy. I take all that back now. One infant is hard enough. I have no idea how people with multiple births do it. And I realize I’ve cursed us into twins next time. Remind me about this post when it happens.
One final note, a very wise couple here in Carmel told us a year ago that Baby Einstein is baby crack. Put in a video/DVD, and you’ve got 30 minutes to do whatever you want. You kid will sit transfixed in front of the TV. M. is finally old enough for it to work on her. She calms down, sticks her binky in her mouth, and watches in mostly silence. Some things make her laugh. Today, she started rocking back-and-forth anytime music played. But she sure seems to love them. I’d much rather have “Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes” going through my head than some Barney bullshit.