Pooped

I actually started composing this post last night, but I just didn't like the flow.  Plus, I was beyond tired.  Tonight I'm even more tired, but at least I only had to edit the post.  I intended to write a few brief sentences, but it morphed into a much, much longer story.  My high school English teacher once said I was too wordy in my writing.  I can see that not much has changed.  

I don't know why I am always wondering why I'm so "pooped" by 8:00 each night.  I'm going to guess it's because I am Genevieve's life.  All.  Day.  Long.

Each morning she wakes around 6:30, and she is ready to play.  I change her diaper, and then she poops.  It's a fun game we like to play.  I'm sure all of you moms know the game. After that we head to the family room (Daddy is still sleeping) to roll around and play with toys.  G is very happy when she first wakes up and is so much fun to play with.  She's full of smiles and laughter and is motivated to work on rolling.  Yesterday she started making this really funny face.  She lays on her belly, lifts herself up with her arms, and scrunches up her face.  We both just laugh and laugh.

After about an hour of burning calories, Genevieve is ready for breakfast.  A good signal for me is her loss of interest in her toys and this little whine she does.  It drives me bonkers!  She eats a little and then wants to sit up.  Once sitting, she reaches for anything nearby - a burp cloth, remote control, my phone, etc.  If nothing is within reach, she will try with all of her might to escape my evil clutches.  This includes attempting to roll down my legs off of the couch.  Sometimes she is content to just rub her hands and feet on the couch and throw pillows.  After about 3 attempts to get her to eat more, she is off and running, er, rolling for her toys again.

Once Genevieve has been awake for about an hour and 45 minutes, I attempt to get her to nap.  Sometimes I need to start sooner and sometimes later.  This will involve a diaper change and nursing her to sleep with white noise playing, which usually takes around 45 minutes.  I transition her to the play yard to sleep, where she will usually sleep for an hour and a half.  She's come a long way since she was a baby, uh, a younger baby.  I use this time to eat breakfast and do any dishes leftover from the previous day.  I also might do a load of laundry or another chore.  Sometimes, though, poop gets in the way of a good nap.  If she has to poop and can't, there's no sleeping.  If she poops while sleeping, she wakes up.  

Once she's awake, we basically repeat the previous activities.  We continue working on rolling over her left arm from her tummy, and we've added learning how to get into and out of a sitting position.  I have to do neck stretches daily for her torticollis (both passive and active stretches), and this involves some trickery for her cooperation.  I can usually be seen dangling a toy from my mouth or making strange noises and faces as seen below.

If all goes well, Genevieve will take another hour and a half nap in her play yard in the afternoon.  When she wakes, we repeat previous activities, but we may do them in a different room.  Sometimes I put her in her swing while I prep dinner, and if it gets cloudy enough, we take a walk.  Today I put her in the Peanut Shell sling for the first time (Thanks for lending this to me, Jenny!).  She seemed to enjoy it, but I definitely need to put it on better next time.  She really needs one more short nap in the late afternoon, but she fights it fiercely.  From about 4:00 until I start the nursing to sleep process (6:45ish), her nickname is whiny boo boo.  Did I mention how the whining drives me bonkers?

When J gets home anywhere from 6-6:40, he's in charge of entertaining her (if he gets home before 6:45). I will serve up his dinner while he plays with G.  I get myself and the bedroom ready for bedtime (night light, white noise), and J puts on a nighttime diaper. Well, actually, he puts one on the baby.  Some nights I feel like I need a nighttime diaper because going to the bathroom with a baby attached to you isn't that doable.  I digress...

J making G happy by whistling

Once G is ready, I will sometimes read her a bedtime story.  Other nights she is beyond tired and won't even sit through the first short page.  Then it's off to nurse.  G eats for a bit on the left side and then falls asleep.  Once she rouses, she will eat on the right.  After sleep nursing for around an hour, she will finally roll over and go to sleep.  I scoop her up and gently place her in her play yard.  Most of the time she stays asleep or wakes briefly and goes right back to sleep.  Other times, like last night, she cries and won't sleep.  If that happens, I have to rock her to sleep for about 5 minutes before placing her in the play yard.  Some nights G will sleep for a couple of hours and then need to have her back patted for a minute to help her go back to sleep.  Other times, she will need to be nursed and then won't go back in her play yard no matter what.  One night she slept for 5 straight hours in her play yard and I got to sleep in any position I wanted!  I swear I heard angels sing.

I am usually so tired by the time Genevieve is asleep that I can't function to do anything productive.  Instead I upload pictures to Facebook, read or watch TV.  I really don't know how I'm going to go back to working full time.  I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.