We're alive

I swear, we're alive.

Before I got married I worked midnights for a few years. And really, for at least the last 10 years, I've worked primarily second shift and loved it. I like it. I'm a night owl. I hate mornings. Evenings at work are quieter, less drama filled. Doesn't matter what the job is, it just feels better to me.

My husband is a day shift guy, but still a night owl. Even Robbie seems to have come by it naturally. He was one of those infants who regularly woke at 1am and was up until at least dawn. It took close to a year to adjust him to going to bed before midnight. When we got him to go to bed at 9 and sleep until 8, it was perfect.

When I found out that I was going back to 2nd shift, I was upset. Not at the sleep change- honestly, I sleep more now. Instead of needing to be up an hour before Robbie to get ready for work, I can sleep until he gets up.

But man, I must have gotten old because I'm having the hardest time adjusting. I swear I lost a week somewhere. And don't even think of asking me what day it is.

Finally this Monday I felt like I could feel a routine forming. Robbie started to sleep a little better (he had a really hard time, too) He'd get up around 8:30, we'd snuggle until he could eat. Breakfast. More playtime, a little snuggle. Then I'd take a shower while he watched cartoons. While I got ready, we'd talk. Well, mostly I'd talk.. but, he listens well. Pack my lunch and drop him at daycare, then rush to work. When I got home, I'd sneak in to kiss him and watch him sleep a bit. Then we'd do it again.

Monday afternoon a coworker asked if I'd trade the rest of her day shifts for the week. I jumped at the chance to have dinner with my family. I was back to my old day shift. Man, did it throw me for a loop again. Up earlier, remembering to pack a lunch the night before, morning traffic. Not to mention we all have a cold, so I'm not sleeping great anyway. I'm tired!

So lots of things have gone neglected. One of which has been my blog. I'm sorry!

I've really appreciated the emails & messages wondering where I was. It's nice to be missed. I'll be back to my new normal shift starting next week. Hopefully I'll adjust and be back to fully functional soon.

In the mean time, I have to say that good things are happening at home with Robbie. He's eating more and more table food. Tonight he actually ate an entire chicken nugget and asked for more. Towards the end I think he was full but didn't want to stop eating so kept wanting more, essentially licking it, then wanting more.

And in a really amazing happening, on Monday, Robbie came in from playing at daycare, picked up another kid's sippy cup and drank! They gave him his cup and he just kept drinking. He wouldn't give up the cup when David came to get him or when they got home. He wouldn't even let David refill it, so he just made him a 2nd cup and gave it to him. He then drank from that one without ever giving up the first. When I got home, I found him soaking wet, banging two sippy cups together and intermittently sipping.

I have no idea how much he drank. Probably a couple of ounces. We didn't do anything to encourage or discourage. Just let him do what he wanted to do. We all had a good time. Yesterday he didn't have much interest, but tonight he took a few sips of yogurt juice with his chicken nugget at dinner. It's definitely progress.

I'd love for him to start drinking even small amounts and love even more for him to start eating something resembling a normal amount of food. I'm currently seeking a new daycare for him for when he ages out of his current daycare (in September. They're keeping him until 2 adjusted.) but having a LOT of trouble. I've made at least 20 calls with no success. I only got one call back and that was from a daycare that seemed fairly hesitant to deal with both our odd schedule and his feeding issues. She said she'd talk to the teacher and call me back, but I'm not holding my breath.

Being able to leave out the part where he still has to be spoon-fed and talked into it would make my calls a bit easier.

In summary:
Lots of good things
Lots of changes.
I'm sorry!
I'm tired.


Trish