Three Weeks of a Sleep-Deprived Haze

This is where I admit that three kids is kicking my trash.

Let me rephrase that. Kid number three is kicking my trash. The fact that I have two older kids just makes everything a little more complicated, is all. Sadie and Ellie have actually been great and if there's been any acting out at all, I can safely chalk it up to the fact that they have a grouchy, sleep-deprived, stressed out mom around them all the time. I'd throw a tantrum or two as well if I were them. But Avery? Avery is well on her way to being my most difficult baby. And if you know my history with difficult babies (colic? check. awful breastfeeding experiences? check.) you know that I don't say that lightly.

I think the thing that makes Avery the hardest is the fact that she cries a lot AND she's not a good sleeper. I'll admit, we were totally spoiled by both Sadie and Ellie in the sleeping department. Both girls had their own problems when it came to crying and eating, but sleep? They had that down to a science. To this day, I still swear they came programmed to sleep through the night really early on. It made all the other stuff bearable. Avery, on the other hand, is a night owl - she sleeps most the day and is awake a lot during the night. I could handle that part...I really could! I don't function well on little sleep, but if I had a happy baby to compensate I could find a way to deal. However, when you add the fact that she cries and screams much of the time she's awake...well...that's where the grouchy and stressed part come in for me. And of course, with a newborn, it's basically a big guessing game when it comes time for figuring out what's actually wrong with her. It's too early for colic, and we were seeing some other signs that this might be something else, so we took her into the doctor today. Turns out she probably has either some kind of acid reflux (even though she almost never spits up - it's weird) or a lactose sensitivity. Niiiiiice.

And since I brought up the subject of eating, I guess I better go ahead and note that breastfeeding didn't work out for us again. I've come to terms with it now, but had you asked me how I felt about it two weeks ago? Well, you would have heard me rant and rave about the injustice of it all. (Because really, how is it fair that a person be cursed with the same problems three times in a row?! No bueno.) Maybe someday I'll write a separate post about it, but I have to wait until I'm a little more emotionally removed.

That's not all...there's a cherry on top of this wonderful, happy post! Not only do we have a fussy baby on our hands, we also picked up the stomach flu at the beginning of this week. Sadie got it, I got it, and Kevin got it. After a week of cleaning up puke, being bedridden myself for a day, and acting as Germ Nazi in the hopes that Avery avoids it, I have to say that sometimes being the mom just...sucks. (There. I said it.)

That is a LOT of negativity in four paragraphs! I had to take this one time to vent all the yucky stuff that's been going on, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been lots of good too. I have to record the good and the bad, though, because if I don't I'll forget all of it due to my sleep-deprived hazy brain.

Coming soon... some cute pictures of Avery and of course, Halloween!