I Swear I Will Turn This Car Around and Go Home!

this week robb has been home with henry and i've been working. poor guys. in addition to teething and having recently both started solid foods and been taken off his zantac, we're also trying to do some "sleep training" with henry to get him to sleep all night in his own bed, so robb's been up with him all night every night and then managing his grouchiness by day. it's been kind of rough.

some days this week i came home to robb wearing the same shell-shocked look i remember sporting after tough days when i was on maternity leave. now i've sort of been on both sides of the one-spouse -working/one-spouse-staying-home thing and i've got to say, they're both kind of rough in their own way. when you're home, you get all that juicy time with the baby, but you are isolated all day and have to deal w/ all the tedious minutia and frustrations that come with baby care. and if you're working, you have a long busy day and miss baby time, but then come home to a frazzled spouse who's punting the crying baby at you as soon as you walk in the door.

and this "sleep training" thing? argh! we really are trying to train henry to have good sleep habits that will go with him the rest of his life and ensure he is a well-adjusted, successful, fully functioning person in the world.

or, he might sleep with us until he's 25.

because, i gotta tell ya, at 2am when he's been up for an hour and you have to wake up at 5:30 to go to work...all your discipline is out the window. here! have a nipple! here, have half my pillow and all the blankets you want! here, have some whiskey! take my first born! just get some sleep!

that last one didn't really make any sense.

but i suspect these are the challenges of parenting. doing right by your kid is sometimes terribly exhausting and inconvenient to you. but you gotta do it. it's not fun listening to him scream, even if it's for his own good, like crying it out a little bit or getting shots. but ultimately it's going to help him be a better sleeper and keep him healthier and won't hurt him in the least. unpleasant for him, mis-er-ab-ble for us. or, later in life, it won't be fun to follow through on threats and have to leave a full cart of groceries in the store because you told him if he threw just one more can of beans at an old lady you'd leave. but it'll be the right thing to do.

for him and the old lady.

so we're having a few insights into the challenges ahead. how do you make a secure, happy, and well-disciplined person? you love on them hard and give them some structure, right? we owe it to him to override our own comfort for his well-being.

but other than the sleep thing, he's doing awesome. growing huge. laughing, playing with toys. rolling over and playing little games. scooting. so cute and fun. videos to follow.