It is not that we didn’t appreciate our parents enough, we love them nearly and nearly but the sense of appreciation grows with every sleepless nights we spend with Neev. In our case its mostly Vi (“The Mommy”) who is awake to take care of the little night watchman. So “Mr. Internet”, go hug your mom right away. If she’s not nearby, grab the nearest lady to you who looks like she might be a mom, and give her one of those pick-you-up-off-the-floor bear hugs. I don’t care if you know her or not, do it. And do it now. Because chances are, at one point or maybe many points, she’s had a day like we’ve had today. And a hug helps. So does a bouquet of flowers. And, some chocolate.
God …Oh….God !!!
Anyone who dares to say being a stay at home mom isn’t a job should be immediately castrated. It is incredibly hard work. Possibly the hardest, beyond like, conducting a brain surgery or delivering one of those Optus D1 geosynchronous (GEO) communications satellite in the space or for that matter saving the troubled global economy right now. Neev was just…inconsolable today, almost the entire day, and we are just exhausted. We really are !! Vi has learned his cries at this point and have them down to a pitch/frequency/amplitude and resonance (for those overly-occupied who didn’t pay enough attention in school these are terms related to science). But knowing which cry it is doesn’t mean we can stop it. Man did we try. What keeps us from walking away for a few minutes or letting him cry it out in his crib is that as frustrated as weare, We know Neev is just as frustrated if not more, and he truly makes the saddest face in the entire world. His bottom lip quivers, his eyebrows furrow like “why me!?” and he just…cries. So hard that his face gets beet red and there’s no sound between the gasps of air. You know that cry? It’s heart-breaking. We can’t just let him keep making that face, well I can for a little bit but not dear mommy… So she bounce and walk laps around our home, she sing and pull out every trick in the book until something, anything works.
After the worst parts of today, between all the screaming, sad faces and restless naps, we finally got Neev to fall asleep for a little while and started thinking of all our favorite things about him, like the way he folds his hands in his lap while we feed him, or his hot little yawns in our face. They worked wonder.
As hard as today was we know that this newborn phase is temporary, so we try to let days like today roll off our back. I also know that eventually the days will become much more manageable. In the meantime, we have hugs, and we have wine. And all those hot little yawns.
A Tiny-Little Love Bite 