As everyone knows, the holidays are rough, you are constantly on the go, no time to breathe and stress and anxiety courses through your veins for 6 weeks until the new year rolls around. What have we been doing for the past month and a half? Why, we’ve been hiding under a rock, waiting for the holidays to roll by before emerging, unscathed. Just kidding, we were in the trenches and have the scars to prove it.

Thanksgiving weekend, the start of the holiday season. I kick it off with the girls’ pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving and I love it. It’s a great way for all of us to gear up for a month of gluttony. It was different this year, we had it in a new house and we did have a guy attend (but he is the exception, he is too young to play poker). Then on Thanksgiving, it was the Ameristar Thanksgiving buffet. Excellent dinner and not too bad with the lines for turkey. That evening, we then went to another Thanksgiving to pick up Ben, who apparently was wiped from all the tryptophan:

Rough life, isn’t it, kid? To be snuggled with and loved on all night.

Saturday night was round two of the turkey-eatin’, Ben-lovin’ extravaganza. There was more food and more baby-holding. We even got to meet the newest addition to the Menkhus clan:

December took off like a bat out of hell. It was go, go, go and we never looked back. You would think that having a child would slow us down, nope. Instead, we are even more exhausted, more cranky and more stressed than ever before. Time management was not on our side. We went out to dinner for Bob’s birthday, celebrated another friend’s birthday, went to the Peimanns’ annual Ugly Sweater Party (with a sweater I found that night), had the Sherron Christmas party to attend and made sure Ben had his first photo with Santa:

And here’s the kicker, we hosted Christmas this year with Bob’s side of the family! Talk about one ball of stress for me! Can you imagine? Cleaning a house for a party? It’s a struggle for me to clean even when I didn’t have a baby. But it all worked out. The Sam’s ham was wonderful, everyone brought a dish, it worked out perfectly. And I think we are going to start a new tradition:

So, in a nutshell, time flew by so quickly and now I just need to take some time and sleep for 3 days straight.

As most of you know, Bob is known for having active dreams. You guys have heard me tell you about him looking for gnomes under the bed, mice along the headboard and kicking me out of bed to go get the paper. Now with Ben, his dreams have become all about the baby or the subject of babies. Let me just tell you a few of them.

Dream #1: Bob wakes up, freaked out. Why? Because apparently we had triplets and they were sleeping in bed with us and he rolled over one of them.

Dream #2: Bob wakes up, freaked out. He’s fumbling around in the sheets frantically. I wake up after only 15 minutes of sleep to him asking me, “Where’s the baby? Where’s the baby?” Apparently, he was holding the baby and lost him in the bed.

Dream #3: After feeding Ben, I go back to bed and tug on the comforter because Bob has it all bunched up. He holds on to the comforter in a tight grip and won’t let go.

Bob: “Stop pulling on the baby!”
Jen: “I’m not pulling on the baby! Wake up!”
Bob: “Stop pulling on the baby!” He tugs harder.
Jen: “Wake up!” I shake him awake.
Bob: He sits up, looks around, confused. “What happened to the baby?”
Jen: “You never had the baby.”
Bob: “What happened to the baby?”
Jen: Annoyed. “Wake up, you never had the baby.”
Bob: “Oh, okay.” He lays back down. 30 seconds later, “Seriously, what happened to the baby?”
Jen: Sigh. I give up and go to sleep.

Besides the dreams, Bob also is very confused and discombobulated whenever you wake him up to tend to Ben. It is pretty hilarious. I’ll wake him up and he’ll ask me such crazy and random things. Or he’ll pop up out of bed and walk away without the baby. Or he’ll just sit up, look at me and then lay back to to go to sleep. After 8 weeks of Ben, he still can’t wake up properly.

I do have to say one thing about all of this, Bob’s antics do add some comic relief to the late night feedings.

First of all, I’m still weirded it out that I am the mother of a human being. Of course, I’m still mama to Kuma but I can’t just leave Ben at home unattended while I go see a movie. Totally different life now and I’m slowly adjusting.

I’m sure people who don’t have little ones at home wonder, “What does Jen do all day?” Well, let me give you a peek into my exciting world.

Early Morning (between 6-8am): He wakes up, I feed him. I put him back down to sleep. He then proceeds to wake up 15-30 minutes later. Bob gets him, changes him, pacifies him and tries to get him back to sleep. He is the one who gets him because I’m ready to throw myself out the window if I don’t get some sleep. Of course, nothing soothes him so I take him and he sleeps in bed with me.

Morning (between 8-11am): He wakes up, I feed him and change him. He is now awake and is looking around. I have just enough time to put my contacts in and change, maybe go to the bathroom. We go downstairs and I try to talk to him but really, what do you talk about to someone who doesn’t understand you or answers you? I put him in his bouncer seat as I find something quick to eat. Then he starts getting fussy.

I put him in the ring sling and wear him around the house like an accessory. It knocks him out.

Noon to early afternoon (between 12-3pm): He wakes up, I feed him and change him. He goes back to sleep. I sit on the couch, grateful that my arms aren’t full of baby at the moment. I don’t have the energy to clean the house. This is also the time where I would scrounge for something substantial to eat. Cheez-Its, probably.

Afternoon (between 3-6pm): He wakes up, I feed him and change him. I try to keep him up because I would rather he sleep at night than during the day. But that doesn’t seem to work. He falls back asleep. The little shit. I start putzing around the house, trying to see if I can accomplish anything. I make lists that I don’t cross off, I start to clean a table and get distracted. Your brain doesn’t seem to function very well when it’s consumed by baby.

Early Evening (between 6-9pm): Bob is home. Ben wakes up, I feed him, Bob changes him. Now the night shift has started in which Bob will take care of the diaper changes while I take care of the feedings. This also begins his fussy period where nothing makes him happy unless it’s mama that holds him. He fusses when grandma holds him, he fusses when daddy holds him. He doesn’t fuss as much when mommy holds him. I do get to eat dinner though because my mom cooks it for me most nights. It’s very nice.

Evening (between 9pm-12am): We start his nighttime routine in which I feed him in low lighting, we don’t interact with him that much, Bob changes him and soothes him to sleep. I am finally able to take a shower, wash my face, brush my teeth and settle down to go to bed because I know I’m on the graveyard shift with him.

Dead of Night (between 12-6am): He wakes up, I feed him and change him. I don’t make eye contact with him. I swaddle him, turn on the white noise machine and then try to rock him back to sleep. Sometimes it’ll take 15 minutes for him to fall asleep, sometimes 45 minutes. Either way, I’m thinking in my head, “Go the fuck to sleep!” but in the most lovingly of tones.

And then the routine repeats again. Aren’t you jealous? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Of course, there are slight variations to the day. I do venture out every once in a while with Ben, either walking or meeting up with Krissy and Max. But overall, it’s the same.

So, when I post entries and it’s primarily about Ben, it’s because I HAVE NOTHING ELSE GOING ON IN MY LIFE!