Our Weekend Visit

I had my work's Christmas lunch in Lehi on Friday. **Love you girls.** Avery was going to go down to work at his dad's for the weekend. Being the geniuses we both are, why not go down as a family and stay over Friday night.

It's important to remember at this point in the story, we now live in Ogden.

I arranged to have us sleep over at my dad's, Ave's mom was going to take the little one, so we would even get a free night without a child. Date night? What's that? I scheduled a hair appointment for Saturday with my basically S-in-L. It was all coming together so perfectly.

I should've known then...

First, Ave's mom had to cancel on us. Okay, I can deal, arrange for Audrey to stay with us at my dad's, ask dad if he will watch her, so we still get our date night, and find someone to watch her during my hair appointment.

Crisis averted.

Enjoy Christmas party whilst wrestling toddler. Pfft... I have been a mom for all of 18 months now, no sweat.  Buy movie tickets for date night... James Bond is sexy. Get kiddo settled down for nap at my dad's. Then Ave's mom calls un-canceling begging for chance to watch Audrey again. Tell her she can have her Saturday. We're working on sharing. Pick up Avery, enjoy dinner with extended family, make sure Bug is taken care of, kiss her good night, and off to alone time.

'Skyfall' review: AWESOME, plus sexy.

Get back to dad's, Ady-bug has been asleep for maybe an hour, contemplate going to bed early too. Then I hear the crying. No worries. Comfort child, feed bottle, let say 'hi' to mom and dad for a little bit. That's all it was, she missed us. ;)

Tuck child back in pack 'n' play, get into pajamas, lay down on brother's stolen bed, blissful sigh...
**ONE HOUR LATER** crying... no screaming, 'I'm-going-to-die-if-you-don't-pick-me-up-now' shrieking. Gently cuddle baby, attempt to soothe, offer bottle, offer binky, rock, bounce, threaten, bribe, worry, cry a little too **TWO HOURS LATER** no joke... still crying. Let me clarify, would stop crying if laying on my shoulder, then would sniffle, and relax enough to trick me into attempting to lay her down... then all hell would break loose again, someone was clearly ripping her arms out of her body, had to be to warrant that much screaming.

There comes a time when in attempt to soothe the poor child, you kiss, you rock, you whisper sweet things... it's not working. Then you grab then by the arms, explain calmly why they should be sleeping, tell her that she is going to wake the entire household with her banshee cries, try to plug it up with a pacifier... it's still not shutting up. Then when you see yourself covering her mouth, only to not let go, just so that she would just be quiet... it's time to wake up daddy.

Don't judge me. You know you've all been there.

I can recall every single instance that I've had the distinct feeling that I can no longer handle the crying, and I will do something I regret if I don't walk away. Luckily, those nights can only be counted on one hand. Most were in the first few months of her life. But, last night, she was determined to remind me why we don't yet have a second child.

Avery took over, tried everything I did. I laid on the bed going through scenarios in my head. She wasn't hungry. I had changed her diaper. She might've been teething or in pain, but I didn't bring any infant pain reliever with us. More than likely, it was a new place, not her bed, not her nightlight, with strange noises, and she was really, really tired. Why she wouldn't just relax and go to sleep then, is still beyond me. I suggested a car ride, and Ave braved the cold and drove around for a little while to no avail. I cat napped, ears still perked for them to get home. Calmer, but still not allowing us to lay her down, they watched television for about an hour. Finally, at about 3:00 AM, he was able to put her in her bed. Whatever it was, she had exhausted herself beyond the point of caring.

**THREE HOURS LATER** yep... oh, man. This time the comforting and binky worked until **ONE HOUR LATER** when it didn't. No consoling the child, no laying her back down to sleep. Avery begged me to take her for an hour or two so he could get a little more sleep before he went to work. I felt for him, most likely I would try squeezing in a nap at some point, but technically I had been up with her more/longer. Just for score keeping purposes, you know, I win. I attempted the whole routine for about another hour, finally bagged it and called it what it was, an early morning start to a seriously crappy night's sleep. We watched SW: Clone Wars until Ave woke up.

We all survived the 'Night the Toddler Would NOT Sleep at Grandpa's'. Avery dragged himself through work, I got my hair all did, and then got my little nap. **THANK YOU LORA** As did Audrey, sort of. She was still super ornery and tired all day. Gee, I wonder why? And after finally making it home tonight, promptly went down for the night at 7:30 PM.

If she wakes up tonight, she can just cry it out.