Aaahhhhh, Vacation At Last!

I headed off to my first night of my Mommy Vacation.....and I'm getting paid!!!! AND, out of the nine hours I will be here, I only will be working about 4 hours total, at the most! How can you beat that? I headed back to my first night of work post-baby! The hours before I took off sans baby went something like this:

I tucked into bed at about 3:30pm with baby for a long slumbering nap of 1 1/2 hours!!!! Yippeee, I'm ready to go all night off of that nap! I got up to a freshly baked pizza, then let my husband go take about a 2 1/2 hour nap, just in case he's up a lot tonight with our fussy baby! Hmmm, I'm going to work where I have to be up all night and get to sleep 1 1/2 hours in preparation for my shift. My husband may have to be up a good portion of the night but probably will be able to sleep at least a good portion of it and he gets to sleep 2 1/2 hours (or maybe even a bit more)? In his defense, I was the one to decide to get up early just to make sure I get through the shower, feed the baby, burp her, change her (including her clothes cause she smelled so sour; she spits up a lot), get my lunch ready, etc. It only made sense that he sleeps in the meantime...at least one of us got to sleep!

I fed my baby, burped her and got spit up all over, went to find clothes for my shower and showered, where I was joined by my baby, who both my oldest daughter and I deemed way too stinky...she loved being snuggled up to my chest wrapped in a tiny towel basking in the warm water spraying on her back! After she went out, wrapped up in a huge beach towel, to be dried, lotioned and dressed by my daughter, my 3 y.o. decided to join me. We finished up pretty fast and I proceeded to get ready for work.

After getting ready, I went out to begin (or continue) my baby's feeding frenzy. After feeding her and tucking her, all relaxed and content (she had fussed all day until she and I went to sleep this afternoon, me still in my pj's), I started getting my pump, food, and paperwork to work on in my down time ready. At this point, my 3 y.o. started asking me, "Can I have a candy cane?"

Let me give you a little history of this loaded candy cane question before I go on. This young lady already began asking for the Christmas tree to be put up before school started in the fall. She remembered from last year (when she was at the ripe old age of 2, in case any of you are mathematically challenged and couldn't figure out that our 3 y.o. would have been 2 one year ago), that we load our tree with candy canes. This is a tradition my husband started many years ago and, try as I might, I have never been able to deter his love of this tradition. The girls wait for him to come home at some point in December with boxes and boxes of the big candy canes so they can load em on the tree and then proceed to badger me to death every waking moment for a candy cane! Today was Candy Cane Day!!!

Okay, back to the candy cane question. I began to hear, about every 5-10 seconds, different variations of, "Can I have a candy cane?" It went something like this: "Can I have a candy cane?" Me: "Just before I leave." Her: "Please can I have a candy cane?" Me: "When I leave." Her: "Please can I have a candy cane? I said please!!!" Me: "You can have a candy cane when I am ready to go to work! Not before!" Her: "Can I have a candy cane, Mom? Please? Mom, I said please!" Me: "Nice! I'm glad you said please! You can have a candy cane when I leave, okay?" This went on for a very long time because I had to put my coffee pot going, then make a sandwich, pack the rest of my food, pour my coffee into a mug, feed baby again, burp her, tuck her back in just so to try to make sure she is comfortable enough that I can get out the door before she decides to start to scream, get my boots, jacket, mittens on, bring most of my load to the car.....at some point, my daughter finally told me, "Okay, quit! Quit now! Okay, Mom, all done! You're all done! You're all DONE!" Finally, as I sat down to feed the baby the last time I figured it was close enough to my departure that she could just as well have her candy cane. I wasn't even done with the baby and she sweetly came out of the kitchen to ask me, "Mom, do you think I could have another candy cane?" I just stared at her, only able to respond with, "What??? NO! No more candy canes!" Her response: "Later? Can I have a candy cane later?" Me: "Sure...much later, like tomorrow!" Her: "No, say later! Say I can have one later!" Me: (leaning forward and staring her straight into her eyeballs) "NOT UNTIL TOMORROW, OKAY?"

After being tortured by my 3 y.o.'s verbal barrage, I left the house after 6 hugs, 6 kisses, 6 "I love you!"s, and 6 "Have fun Mom!"s with my ears ringing and my arms feeling weirdly empty (my baby usually comes with me wherever I go since I nurse her and it's just so easy to take her with instead of pumping ahead of time)! As I drove down the hill, with the dome light on, waving back at the girls at the patio door, I felt a little giddy! I usually stress out more about leaving my newborns for the first long stretch like that but this time I just couldn't! I could only feel a little giddy and a bit relieved to let them all deal with this 24/7 baby! Now watch, she will sleep all night like a charm, except for feedings, and will make a liar out of me!!!