Here's To The Single Parents

I just did the bedtime routine by myself. It was short, but painful. Here's how it went down:

6:00 - Kira and I eat dinner

The most difficult aspect of this part of the night was that Renee was still awake. Usually around this time, she takes a 20-30 minute power nap. But, she didn't, I let her cry for 20 minutes and she still wouldn't rest. So Renee sat in her highchair somewhat well-behaved while Kira and I ate.

6:30 - Feed and change Renee; read Kira a book; start cleaning dinner dishes

Renee had just had a bottle at 5, so I didn't want to feed her right away as she probably would not eat without at least a little bit of hunger. Thus, my decision to hold off feeding Renee until both Kira and I had finished. I'll rate the feeding at "B-". Because she had not napped, she was cranky and impatient with eating her solid foods. She ate about 2/3 of what I had prepared, and she got it everywhere. Nothing unusual, but not fun to deal with on my own. After the diaper change, Kira corners me, and demands a book. I can't escape, so I read to her while Renee wiggles around in my arms and repeatedly lunges after the book. I was feeling sea sick by the end. Since both kids were hanging out on the floor, I decide to start clean up, but I was interrupted by Kira wanting to go pee, at which point I decided I would shower her.

7:30 - Shower Kira while Renee hangs out in her walker

Usually when Kira needs to go to the bathroom, I will put Renee in the play yard or in her crib. Half the time she is successfully distracted by some toy, the other half she just cries the whole time. And, if Kira takes long enough, even if Renee is initially distracted, she will eventually start screaming for attention. Renee would never make it through Kira's entire shower. So, I secure both kids upstairs (Renee in her crib, and Kira behind the locked gate), and grab the walker from the kitchen, and lug it upstairs. Renee is pretty good hanging out in it while I give Kira a shower.

8:00 - Prepare a bottle while Kira plays upstairs

The times I've listed so far were the approximate times that I actually got a chance to check the time. I was so thankful that it was 8 already. Any earlier, Kira probably would not go to sleep. The worst thing about preparing bottles alone is that I'm usually holding Renee while doing it. Thanks to all the other things I'm trying to do at the same time, Renee is usually already getting impatient by the time I realize or get a chance to prepare a bottle. When she's in that mood, I have to hold her, otherwise she'll just cry and that feels worse to me than holding her in one arm while I do intricate work with the other! (Intricate work: tightly packing the formula scoops, making a mix of cold and hot water to make warm water - and testing said water, placing a bottle liner into the bottle, twisting the bottle top onto the bottle, shaking the bottle until the formula dissolves.) I feed Renee, but she only takes about 3 ounces. I decide I need to break it up and maybe she will feed again, so I go to tuck Kira into bed. She insists on a story despite my reading a long story earlier. So, I grab the closest board book and zip through it while holding Renee on my arm. Before Kira goes to sleep every night, she makes me turn on her turtle night light. I turn it on, but tonight, it doesn't work. I'm forced to negotiate with her that Trevor will fix the turtle and she just needs to go to bed, like NOW. I think she could sense my fatigue, so she goes to bed. Back to Renee. I want to change her diaper, but she's rubbing her eyes. So I give her the bottle again, but she doesn't want it. I don't want to pass up the chance of putting her to sleep, so I put her down right away and she falls asleep without a peep. I figured I would have to feed her again at some point in the night because she only had 3 oz, and when I do that, I'll change her diaper.

8:30 - Feed Logan

Poor dog is hungry, so I feed him and finish the clean up. Then I sit at my computer to watch some Netflix. I watch half way through Valmont. I've never seen the movie in it's entirety so I was happy that I could stream it. As I'm watching the start of it, I'm half expecting either Kira or Renee to wake up. 20 minutes into the movie and they don't wake up, so I consider this the end of the bedtime routine. Like I said, it was pretty short...but painful. I'm going to line out the rest of the night because even though they are asleep, I never really know when they are going to wake up, so I still feel like I'm working, or on-duty, or something. I watch Valmont until 9:45.

9:45 - Shower!

Wow, it's 9:45! I quickly shower thinking Renee is going to wake up at any moment. I probably should have showered earlier then I wouldn't have to worry as much. But the movie was distracting.

10:30 - Back to watching Valmont

It's a long movie. By the time I'm done watching, it's 12. Surprise surprise - Renee is still not awake.

12:00 - Blog

Should I go to sleep or should I do something until she wakes up? I guess I'll just go to sleep...no wait, I can hear her stirring over the monitor. Maybe I should go downstairs and start prepping a bottle...