Too many comments to respond to

Wow, there was a lot of Jen-bashing in the comments of my last post. That sucks. Really really sucks. Sure we have had some ups and downs in the roller coaster of parenting but umm, lots of people do and I don't really make it a point to say rude crap about your spouses. I understand that a lot of you are trying to be helpful but let's face it, you're being harsh to the person I love and that hurts my feelings. So eff that.

For the record, I'm pretty sure I mentioned it yesterday but it is worth saying again that Jen /does/ go to the baby when she wakes up but for the past week or so Punk has decided that only I will do. And Jen hangs in there and tries and tries until Punk is full-on hysterical. And come on, people, when you are holding your kid and she is bawling because she wants someone else, that SUCKS. So stuff it.

If anyone is going to do some Jen-bashing around here, it will be me because umm, she's MY wife and it's my life and we are going to do what we are going to do. The end.

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Now last night was weird. First Punk woke up a gazillion times in the early night (unusual) and was crying every time (also unusual). I was soaking in the tub so Jen put her back down three times with no incident. Maybe two times. I don't remember. Punk woke up every two hours or so like clockwork for a good chunk of the night but went right back down with a little love, until 4ish when she was ready for the All Night Party. In retrospect, I think she was kind of hungry because her tummy was rumbling, but aah well. I tried to get her down, then Jen tried to get her down and she did her Only Mama Will Do crying, so I went back to her and finally took her to bed with me around 5:30.

She was wide awake in bed with me but she was quiet, looking toward the window in the dark, eyes wide. At least I was able to lay down and chill. Eventually she fell asleep and woke up at 7:15. She has been napping since 9am, but I did have to go in and put her back to sleep around 9:50.

She also shows signs of a tooth on the bottom (white bumps on her gum but nothing broken through) so that could be the culprit. I suppose only time will tell. We tried teething tablets last night but it didn't do anything.

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Crying it out may produce kids who sleep through the night. I'm not denying that. But hell, beating your kids may produce kids who don't talk back, and I don't see a lot of people advocating that just because "it works." (Now in no way am I calling CIO child abuse, before you get your knickers all in a twist. I'm just saying that not everything that 'works' is awesome.) I also think there are two distinctly different types of babies out there: those that can cry a little and blow off some steam, and those that will not settle down and instead will hype themselves up even more. There is a reason we are still swaddling at 6.5 months, people - everything escalates and right now she is just not capable of calming herself down. No matter how tired. No matter how upset. So go ahead and CIO with your own kids, that's cool with me. But certainly don't suggest stuff for a baby you've never even met.

Convenience food

Someone (nikki_herself?) once posted that someone insinuated to her that it should be a lot easier for her to eat well since she is now a stay-home parent. I guess the thought process was something like: no cookies/cake/goodies around the office, no candy jar, no "working lunch" at a less than health restaurant, no tempting fast food, etc. The rationale was, "You can fill your house with healthy food and then just eat that! No problem!"

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have eaten nothing but CRAP since I have been home. And it's not even like my house is full of crap, but it has been, by necessity, overstocked with convenience foods like macaroni and cheese or instant oatmeal or frozen lunches. Processed crap. Never mind the fact that it is so tempting to go through fast-food drive-throughs while your child naps in the car seat behind you rather than considering lugging her out to get something proper... or trying to eat when you get home and she inevitably wakes up.

But even when I'm NOT eating processed junk, it's still junk. Let's take now. What am I eating? Potatoes. I'm not kidding, I'm eating potatoes. Leftover potatoes from dinner the other night. There was a tupperware container in the fridge and I opened it and there they were. Potatoes. So I heated them up, and here I am. Eating potatoes. With a slice of cheese on top. (A guy's gotta have some protein, you know? *g*)