Friday, November 12, 2010

Birth Control is a 7 letter word...

...NEPHEWS

In true pay-back fashion, I told my sister I would be posting this! Usually I'm always in aw of the way Meagan raises my nephews. Most of the time she makes it looks so easy, even if it still seems exhausting. But watching her, and doing it myself are two different things.

So I agreed to help watch the boys a few days a week, for a couple hours each day. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, in general it has been. I've been doing this for about 2 months now, and I pretty much got the hang of it. Maddox would zonk out after 30-40 min. and sleep the rest of the time, and Cole wanted to always watch a movie (or color or play with a few toys). We really had found a good routine.

All of that changed this last week. Now I don't know if it was because of Day Light Savings, or Maddox changing his own schedule, or who knows what other influences; but something has gone seriously wrong!

The main problem seems to be that Maddox is extremely fussy. I can't get him to sleep, or for that matter, stop crying. And before you say: have you tried this. The answer is YES...I've tried everything. I'll try burping him for a good 20 min (just to see if he has a tummy bubble), but to no success. I'll walk around with him, distract him, play with him, change his diaper. You name it, I've done it. But nothing works.

At first I thought he might be hungry, but Jeff feeds him before he comes over. I really can't pin-point what's wrong. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that his schedule has changed (by one hour). He fights me, whenever I try to put him down; and he fights sleep too, even though I know he's tired. And if I'm lucky enough to get him to fall asleep, it only lasts 10 min. ARGHHHHH!

All this to say, I'm worn out. If it were just Maddox, maybe I could handle it...but Cole is just as needy...and Aunt Angie is exhausted!

So when Meagan comes to pick them up, I'm done for the day...and want nothing more than to get them OUT of my house. She always laughs at this, finding humor in my plight. And she's started to adopt a new phrase around me:

Just you wait!

Just you wait! Just you wait! Just you wait! Just you wait! Just you wait! Just you wait!

Followed by her ever confident statement of:

You'll be thanking me one day!

How I loath these phrases... and here's why: I don't have children. It's not MY responsibility to raise kids right now. There's a reason why I don't have kids...I don't WANT them right now! I want independence, and a LIFE to myself right now! "Just you wait" only reiterates the fact that I'm happy now without. And I very much doubt that I'll ever be thanking my sister for putting me through hours of "HELL" taking care of her children.

I'm sure I'll get the hang of Maddox's new routine, but for now I'm gonna have to deal with the screaming baby. Please Lord, help the screaming baby! I'm begging you!

Oh, and on a related note: Leaving your baby's dirty diaper on MY coffee table, for ME to pick up....NOT COOL! Like I said, Meg, pay back!!

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