Love in the time of...Colic

No where, no time, no place is the best translation of love (I know that makes no sense) than when the baby is having colic at 12am. And 1 and 2am. And 3am. And 5 am. Especially after you have tried to put her to bed a few times, only for her to wake up wimpering and full-blown crying (tears and everything). And more especially after your husband has been called out once already and come home to the same noisy, helpless situation that he left 90 minutes beforehand. The cause of said colic? Mommy feeding Erin cereal (too much) at around 8pm. Especially since she had baby food earlier that day too (think eating 3 or 4 plates for Thanksgiving dinner and forgetting to wear your stretch pants). In other words, pushing two meals a day when one will do. Granted, my darling is a little dumpling, but she is perfectly fine with a big lunch and liquid dinner (and breafast. and second breakfast and supper and all the snacks in between). Mommy decided on trying the fast track to sleeping all night. And it worked...after the 4 hours of nonstop crying. Her little tummy was all tight and her roars were deafening. I had been up since around 8am (hello big brother who cannot sleep with all the daylight and singing birdies outside, even if the sun is not quite up yet) and was absolutely exhausted. Every woman knows that you cannot sleep well or at all if your baby is screaming. Even if Daddy volunteers for the night shift and tries to get you to get some sleep. Eventually, the tummy tightness subsided enough for a hot water bottle and swing time, where she slept fitfully. Enough for me to get an hour of sleep at a time. After some serious swing sleeping and a few hours, a diaper was filled a bit and the smiles returned.

And after some chocolate and pumping, my smiles returned too. And after my cop got up, I got a nap, which meant that smiles were accompanied by eyes that weren't red-rimmed and slightly crazed. So what is the lesson we learned today?? Hmmm....to try breakfast and lunch in small amounts? That baby is not ready for big suppers?? Whatever the lesson is, we've learned it! Pleeease! I'm ready for a full night's sleep. Um, let me rephrase that. I'm ready for quieter sleep? Since I'm up all night anyway, getting drinks, covering mr kickie who knocks the wall and his bed sides with flailing limbs, going to the bathroom, seeing why the dogs are howling, kicking my covers off and checking various wimpers from various members of the family, I guess I can't say uninterrupted sleep because I no longer remember what that is. I have a vague memory from college where I had sleep marathons, but never made it past the 14 hour mark. Yes, vague memories. ha ha. Now I'm happy for 4.