SAHM trials & tribulations

One of the catch-22s of being a stay-at-home mom of a baby is the constant desire to get out of the house coupled with the baby's constant desire to fall asleep in the car (once they get past that whole "I hate my carseat and I hate you for putting me in it so I'm going to yell the ENTIRE TIME I am in here while you attempt to master the art of driving with one hand and using the other to plug me up with a pacifier" newborn phase).  You find yourself planning your day out in 3-4 hour increments, wanting to maximize your time out in the "real world" while also being careful not to get stuck in the car too close to nap time.

So yesterday when my mom suggested Davis and I meet her for lunch around 12:30, I was a little worried that might be cutting it close, but I needed some adult interaction so badly that I decided to risk it anyway. When lunch was over and I headed back to the car to strap Davis in his car seat, I noticed he immediately slumped over to one side, as if making himself comfortable so he could enjoy a nice little snooze on the 15 minute drive home.  But I'm no dummy!  I knew my sneaky little baby would try and use that mini slumber session as a replacement for his actual nap, and I was having none of that.  Thus began Operation Keep Davis from Falling Asleep.

It started out innocently enough.  I rolled down the windows in the backseat, alternating sides to maximize the distractions.  But I glanced in the mirror and could see those little eyelids of his becoming heavy, so I stepped up my game.

First, I called on LMFAO to help me out.  I blasted "Party Rock Anthem" as loudly as I felt comfortable doing before inflicting hearing loss upon both of us.  That still wasn't working, so I tried turning the music all the way down, then all the way up, and so on and so forth.  Much to my dismay, I checked in the mirror again and he was out.

It was time to pull out the big guns!  I reached behind me and pulled the pacifier out of his mouth.  He fussed for a minute, but then fell silent.  So I used the pacifier as a poking device, bopping him on the head with it over and over again.  Still snoozing!  I began pushing on the car seat and rattling it back and forth.  I started SHRIEKING as loudly as I could.  STILL sleeping.

At that point my driving was becoming rather erratic and I was honestly beginning to wonder if my baby was still alive in the backseat, so I pulled over, hopped out, climbed in the back, and started lightly patting him on the cheeks.  He opened his eyes for a few seconds, but it was clear I didn't have much time.  I flew home as quickly as I could, continuing all of my tricks in the front seat, but he was still fast asleep when I pulled into the garage.

Thankfully I was still able to get him upstairs to his crib for a real nap - I just couldn't help but laugh to myself thinking about how much energy we put into getting them to sleep and keeping them asleep when they are newborns, and here I was, acting like a total crackhead in my car trying to keep him from even closing his eyes.  Ah, the irony!

Oh, and in case anyone was curious about how his allergic reaction was going, the pediatrician was (unfortunately) right: it got MUCH worse on Tuesday morning!  It has been slowly spreading to different areas of his body and then fading away, so hopefully it will be all gone soon...