October 10, 2015
The weekends are so special for our little Evans’ family. Given that Jeremy and I both work outside of the home, we don’t get much time at home with just the three of us. And, during the week, we get run down by day’s end. The routine is very structured, and most of our time is spent getting ready for the day or coming down from the day. So I look forward to Saturdays as rich, quality playtime.
Today was not as much of that as I would have liked. Selah June woke up at 5:30am. That wasn’t too awesome. But then we watched some “Wheels on the Bus” in bed, which was nice. We had a good long morning nap… also nice. But the day was just feeling a little off. Sometimes you just know.
Jeremy made plans to go watch the Cubs’ game with Mario et al., and I decided to spend the evening with family over at Aaron and Jessica’s watching the Gator game. Kickoff was at 6:30pm, which I knew was pushing it for SJ’s bedtime. I went over to see them early so that I could have some good quality time with the whole clan before she turned into a pumpkin. And that was a good thing…
Just when parents started showing up (6:30pm for kickoff), she started getting fussy. First, she didn’t want to sit in her highchair facing the window, then she didn’t want to sit in her highchair. She didn’t want to eat bananas, then she didn’t want to drink a bottle. She didn’t want to rock in the rocking chair, and then she didn’t want to go to sleep. She didn’t want to be held by anybody, but she didn’t really want to be put down. It was just fussiness. Jessica couldn’t take the endless crying in the crib, and I couldn’t take the fitfulness away from the house. I finally surrendered and took her home. She calmed down as soon as I put her in the carseat. It’s as if she was missing her routine.
But then we got home and started the routine. She didn’t want her bottle, and she didn’t want to lie down. She didn’t want to rock in the chair, and she didn’t want to just watch “Wheels on the Bus.” Phew…. Just typing it out makes me tired and exasperated.
In my mind, I went back to the colic days (and weeks and months). I remembered the bouncing and shushing. We walked the halls and bounced, walked and bounced, walked and bounced. A few little toots came out… and she grew heavier. Then a few more little toots…. and she grew heavier. Her eyelids slowly sank until her eyes were closed. And we made it to bed. Wow. I don’t know how we ever survived the colic days. Tonight was just three hours, but it had me worn out by night’s end.
I’m thankful for family members who understand when the uncontrollable happens. I’m thankful for the colic days to make me appreciate the happy, healthy, easy, wonderful baby that we have today. I’m thankful for chili with lots of meat and fresh salad with pico and basil that gave me the energy to get her to bed tonight. I didn’t fix it, but I sure did enjoy eating it! There’s nothing like a home-cooked meal cooked by somebody else at some other home. 🙂 Thanks, fam. Sorry for the crazy.