From This Point On, It Only Gets Rougher

I haven't had much patience with the munchkin recently. For the first time since she's been born, I was the only one taking care of her for an entire 5 days. It's been rough!

The DH was in the field, my mother-in-law is in Washington State for the summer and my sister is out visiting friends on the East Coast, so it's been me and the kid since Friday.

I really didn't think it would be that big a deal. I've been home alone with her plenty of times. This is the longest I've been alone with her without any reprieve, though.

To make matters worse, her sleep schedule (HA!) is all out of whack 'cause we've been trying to teach her to fall asleep without nursing. We've been doing it for a couple of weeks now, and results have been mixed.

For some reason, the DH can get her to go to sleep with no nursing and a minimum of crying in anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. For me, though, it takes from an hour to two hours, with lots of tears. We usually do an every-other-night thing where he puts her down one night and I do it the next.

It's been great. It's so nice not to be the only one to put her to bed every night.

The down side?

It's very difficult now to nurse her to sleep. Previously it took about half an hour of nursing for her to fall asleep. Now? Forget it.

She squirms, she bites (that's new), she's not interested in nursing and she won't sit still. But when I put her in the crib? Then she screams bloody murder and won't. lay. down. Naps, bedtime, you name it. Five days of that, two to three times a day, and I am about ready to pull my hair out and run around screaming bloody murder myself.

I was at the end of my rope today, literally. Screaming, throwing things, almost in tears, the whole nine yards. Why didn't anyone tell me it could be so frustrating dealing with a baby? (sarcasm) I'm soo glad the DH is back.

You know what this means? I'm going to have to go out and make Mommy friends after all. I knew this day would come.

Unfortunately the DH is sick (again) which means that we'll all be sick here sooner or later. That'll really help the sleeping situation...