solicited advice
Let's pretend you have a nearly-5-month-old baby. Let's also pretend that you have a full-time job that sometimes takes you out of town, a dog, a house, a husband who is gone 55-ish hours a week, and tons of personal commitments. Now let's pretend that your infant has regressed to acting like a newborn in the evenings and at night (you know, the only time you get to see her) more often than not for about 3 1/2 weeks--crying more, screaming sometimes, turning breastfeeding into a nightmare, waking up not once but sometimes 2 and 3 times a night. You love this baby (and husband and house and dog and most of the personal commitments). You miss the baby while she's gone, while you're working. But the screaming baby? The baby who is suddenly high-maintenance? The sleep deprivation of the parent of a newborn? You don't love that so much. You at times want to run away. You probably need to run away. You need free time that doesn't involve your job. Your idea of free time isn't even something terribly exciting. It's more like running errands by yourself. Perhaps talking to a friend on the phone. Marking something off the To Do list. Maybe even washing the new pots and pans you bought 3 weeks ago that are still sitting in their unopened box in the dining room. So if you're pretending all that, how do you leave for that free time? How do you justify spending even less time with your kid?
Comments
cph
Lunch, baby. I do lots of things at lunch. I also try to work 7 hour days when I can and take care of things around the house that need to be done. One of the perks of working from home, as you know. If you can, just stop early, take care of a few things before you pick up chicken, then log back into work after she's in bed, if you need to. Talk to work about it, work something out in advance so everyone knows what to expect and that you are AWOL from 4-8pm or whatever. I've had several friends do this who aren't even working from home, and it's worked great for all of them.
Also, have hubby go in early to get his 55 hour weeks (that's what JB does) so he can pick Chicken up and you can have a cocktail or something before they get home and de-stress or just unload the dishwasher. No idea where he works, but that's what we do. Or have him take her to school and you have some morning time to yourself.
Breathe. Have a night out. And remember that this too shall pass.
NDH
And this too shall pass. I agree that these periods of regression often precede big milestones.
In the moments you are (deservedly) at the end of your rope, sing to yourself:
"Where are you going my little one, little one? Where are you going my baby, my own. Turn around and you are one. Turn around when you are four. Turn around and you're a young one having babes of your own"