No Chocolate for Breakfast: Housebound

As mentioned in the previous blog post, we're currently in the midst of sleep training Evelyn via Helen Sands from Hushbaby Consulting. The training consists of fixing both overnights and naps. Before we started Helen spoke to me about clearing my schedule so Evelyn and I could be home for 3-4 weeks...and I wasn't willing to completely do so. To make matters worse, one parent is supposed to do all the night training and the same or the other parent is supposed to do all the daytime training. Both naturally fall to me since I'm home with Evelyn and this news meant no tag-teaming Darcy for a little while.

So I looked at our family google calendar. I have weekly things on our schedule such as Sunday lunch at my parents, Sunday Magic League, leading a Scouts group, taking Caleb to swim class, and I was really looking forward to starting two mom and baby fitness classes (Aqua Diaper Fit and Boot Camp). Then there were the more random January plans, like already having tickets for the National Skating Championships and the musical Hair, some work-related meetings, medical appointments, a Beavers sleepover at the church, my birthday which usually entails a family as well as a friends get-together, baby playdates, jogging with the stroller on warmer days, skating on the canal, visiting Mountain Grove, visits to the mall, lunch dates with friends, groceries, etc, etc, etc.

I made a half-ass effort. Invited my parents here for Sunday lunches instead of going there. Asked Liana to babysit Evelyn here at home while I take Caleb to swim class and during Sunday Magic League. That was about all I did, actually. And even then, I started to feel the cabin fever. I immediately started thinking about all the playdates I could host and friends I could invite over for visits.

Then ~~destiny intervened.~~ funny things started to occur. The Diaper Fit class I'd so been looking forward to got canceled as only two of us were registered. Then the time of Caleb's swim class got moved, which led me to call his father and arrange he take him to swim class on the weekends. Evelyn's doctor appointment got rescheduled to the end of the month. And I started to notice that every damn day there was something in that calendar, that Evelyn was happiest when we had nothing planned, and that I was tired.

So I skipped out on a Beavers meeting on an evening when Evelyn was having a rough time and the roads were an icy mess. I canceled the Baby Boot Camp class. I decided I'm okay with not having a birthday bash this year. Darcy can help out with groceries and other errands or I can do them when he's home with the baby.

A friend of mine recently posted an article on Facebook called Busy Isn't Respectable Anymore and there's this one part that resonated with me.

"Though we all have seasons of crazy schedules, few people have a legitimate need to be busy ALL of the time. For the rest of us, we simply don’t know how to live within our means, prioritize correctly, or say no."

My work personality will take on a ridiculous amount of projects and not only will I not say no I'll actually volunteer for them and make work that doesn't have to be there. My mom personality is exactly the same (ie, last month's crazy advent calendar). And socially, I can probably count on one hand the amount of Facebook events or Evites I've received and not replied yes or maybe to. I do everything possible to be able to attend things my friends invite me too - even if it's a stupid PartyLite gimmick and 50 other people were invited. And of course Darcy and I host more often than anyone we know. We love hosting. But sometimes a few weeks go by when neither of us has carved out time to go to Canadian Tire for household items that we actually need, and that says something about prioritizing.

This all hit home on Monday. The previous weekend we had my in-laws over for a lovely overnight visit, then my parents over for a nice lunch, and finally a dozen of friends over for Sunday Magic League. I had skipped out on the last two monthly leagues in order to work on some Christmas gifts and do some activities with the kids but I had a great time drafting, playing and trading M:tG again. Then Monday came around and Evelyn was off the walls agitated and her naps were all broken. I had my daily call with Helen and she is so confident in her stuff. She said there can only be two reasons for the baby's mood: (1) she was dozing off while nursing just long enough to not want to nap but not long enough to be well-rested, or (2) she was overstimulated the last few days, missed sleep windows, and...had we gone out or had any guests over? I couldn't even bring myself to tell her we'd had about 15 guests here over a 30 hour period. I hadn't even considered that having guests over would interfere with sleep training but thinking back I obviously wasn't focused on Evelyn while cleaning, cooking, hosting and playing a card game and I could think of moments she seemed sleepy that I postponed because the timing wasn't convenient to me.

Evelyn has been such a joy lately and I feel so blessed being housebound with her. She's enjoying testing out food. Her favourite food is by far mashed banana. When feeding her mashed banana you must not be eating a meal yourself because as soon as you get a spoonful into her mouth she swallows and yells until she can see the next spoonful coming toward her. She also likes her morning cereal and mango and apple purees. Avocado has been hit or miss, as have sweet potato, butternut squash, green pea and carrot purees. It's been fun to make her food. And generally I'm just pureeing a vegetable that we're having for dinner anyway.

Evelyn's new things are practicing sitting unassisted, giving kisses (sweetest thing - my god), crashing block structures, and sleeping on her tummy. We've also added storytime to her bedtime routine. This week we've read an Iron Man book, an Usbourne, a Munch, a Dr. Seuss, and a Berenstein Bears.

Today is day 7 of sleep training. Nights are going amazingly well and naps have been progressively getting better. As naps become more steady I'm able to have some "me" time which I've been spending working out in the basement, preparing food, taking long baths, and, at the moment, sipping tea while blogging. On my bedside table there are currently four books I've been reading/attempting to read: Bret Hart's biography, a graphic novel, a fantasy novel, and an Ellen Satyr how to book on getting kids to eat. So I'm hoping to get through those, do some of the free drawing lessons on DrawSpace, and also blog more often so I can cease the silly 5-8 subject titles. I'm on the fence about napping because I'm sleeping so much more at night now that Evelyn's waking up less often.

All in all, I'm liking how things are turning out with this more time at home stuff. Other than being taken out for walks in her stroller, which it's been too cold to do these last few weeks, six month olds don't care to be out and about. Moms drag babies out and about so we don't get cabin fever. That's okay if your baby doesn't react to all the changes and it doesn't affect their sleep but it wasn't working for Evelyn. As the months pass she'll need less daytime naps and enjoy outings more so around summertime we'll hit up the parks and library storytime. For now we play indoors, cuddle and watch Sesame Street.

Here are some photos of our housebound fun times: