Yesterday was the storm clouds, but today we got some sun.
Thanks to our sitters and the break they gave us, we went into the evening with a little bit of sleep and more importantly, a fresh slate away from the crying. The parental Stress-O-Meters sat at a luxurious 1 on the 1-10 scale.
Justine didn’t want to make it too easy on us. She went super sonic shortly after the sitters left. Jayce was feeling left out and decided to join the party.
“Ha ha, children,” we said, “now we’re double-teaming you. We’ve had some rest and will be unaffected by your tandem screaming for at least another four minutes. All hail, we the victors!”
We packed them in the car and drove around the neighborhood. It’s worked for other parents and we hadn’t tried it yet, so off we went.
Would you believe the little suckers calmed down? We made a thing of it: Drove to Dominos, ordered a pizza, and ate it doing gentle laps around the neighborhood while listening to our new audiobook.
With great fear and trembling that our progress was about to be destroyed, we brought them inside half an hour later because it was time for them to eat.
We did diapers. We did bottles. We neared the end.
There was….no…..screaming?
Not a peep?
Not a whimper?
IS THIS A TRICK!?!?
By 11 pm, we had them fed and everything ready for the night. Jayce cried a bit on Josiah but like before, Justine was chill.
JUSTINE.
WAS CHILL.
<parade and marching band starts down street, Josiah cocks shotgun on front porch and shoos them away before they wake up the kids>
The night was pretty good. It’s still challenging to burp/feed one when the second kid has woken up demanding service before you are available. It’s very difficult to keep them quiet so the other parent can sleep.
Today, we are out running errands. Practice outings are crucial. In two weeks, we’re taking them north to where my family is for the first time. It’s a two hour drive, so I wanted to give them practice being in their car seats.
If today was a weather forecast, it would be sunny with a chance of clouds. They have essentially been asleep all day, which I fear does not bode well for the night. But at least it’s 6 pm and they haven’t started screaming yet.
The extreme days will come and go. In between we have breaks like this. True, today was a week and a half coming, but who’s counting?
Answer: We were. We were definitely counting.
Maybe not so long between periods next time, kids?