The New Normal

This has been an interesting week for our little family. Not only have I reinforced some pretty strict rules on house training for the pooch, we were also splashed with a nice, icy dose of a new reality. Our little princess had to start daycare this week. Not biggie, right? Em… Well, not so easy, really. In a few days’ time, I had to reinvent our entire routine and hope the little one can adapt quickly. Because of the addition of daycare, instead of me getting up at 6:00, and letting the little one sleep in, I am now up at 5:20. I walk the dog, feed the dog, hit the shower, get dressed, wake Baby Girl, get her dressed, get her to eat breakfast, take the dog out one last time, and out the door by 7:20. She would normally sleep in till about 8:30 – 9-ish when my parents were with us (the rules were virtually non-existent when she stayed with them). oh yes, to make all of this work, I also prepare her and my meals before going to bed the night before. I even determine what's for breakfast and get as much of it as possible ready at that time, that way I have a few less steps to deal with in the morning. I still don’t have all the steps quite right but it’s getting there. Of course, we also had to get the little one into her daycare routine, which is another challenge altogether. She now has to get used to eating at a particular time but more importantly, get into her crib and go to sleep. And that, ladies and gentlemen is the monster hurdle. See, at one point I used to be able to put the little one in her crib and she would kind of just hang out, get her pacifier and go to sleep. Then my parents insisted on holding her to put her to sleep, and then we were done. My Mom even got offended by my efforts to try to get her to sleep on her own. I was in the room with the baby, mind you, just not holding her. This made the little one wail like a banshee. It got to the point where I had to kick my Mom out of the baby’s room when she stormed in demanding to take the baby to their room till she fell asleep. Awesome. But yes, we were entirely too lenient and took the path of least resistance, and now we find ourselves with a kid who refuses to fall asleep on her own. Note to self, for the future, tough it out. So yes, in daycare, she is put in her pack and play and is expected to sleep. We’re in day three and she is still putting up a good fight. But the woman who runs the daycare is no-nonsense and it shows. The little one has been fussing a touch less about getting into her crib. The one great thing about daycare is that because she is more or less playing for the majority of the day, she has been coming home pooped. I love it, by 8:30 she starts saying, "night night." Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Baby Girl, but she can make it difficult to do things like clean the house after dinner or even relax before my bed time. The other aspect that we had to deal with is the complete overhaul of our finances. I knew daycare is expensive but damn, it stings. Over the next few months I will have to don my Mr. Scrooge top hat and slash expenses across the board. I’m so not going to enjoy that but ah well. Until I win the Powerball—which by the way, is the kind of frivolous spending that I am cutting out of our budget— this will have to be the new normal. F- me!