A Reprieve From Chaos-Mondays

Since my husband headed back to work after his paternity leave, Mondays have been my most difficult days. He is home on the week-end, and my mother helps me all week except for Mondays.

Just before my husband returned to work, I considered hiring help on Mondays. How could I possibly handle three kids under age four on my own? But on the other hand, how would I find reliable help for one day a week... most professional nannies want full-time work. I thought of university students who are sometimes off one day a week, but would they have sufficient experience with young children?

In the end I decided to try it on my own to see how I fared. Somehow, I survived. I start off every Monday by reminding Baby #1 that I am all alone with three kids, and that I need her to be a "super good girl". Not only is she usually well-behaved, but I often hear her repeating my words while speaking to Baby #2: "I am all alone with you two, so you have to be a good girl." Between feeds, I place the baby in a front carrier, where she readily falls asleep. After breakfast, we head out to the park, returning just before lunch. At around 13h, I put Baby #2 down for a two hour nap... and it is smooth sailing after that. I suspect that things will get a little tougher as the outdoor temperature drops...

Thanksgiving Monday provided a reprieve as my husband was off work! We didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but the extra help was certainly appreciated. We took turns sleeping in, and after feeding the baby, I took the older girls to a nearby park. We enjoyed 20C weather, in mid October! The rest of the day was a blur, but it was certainly a nice break. I look forward to more holiday Mondays!

enjoying her activity mat

The Stay-at-home Rash

Doing nothing in particular. If you look closely, you can see the rash around our toddler's mouth.

There are many different types of rashes, and in fact many categories of rashes. For the sake of this blog, I will divide them into infectious and non-infectious. Unfortunately, our girls had the infectious type. And so the last week of March saw us stay home.

I would later find our that there had been two other cases at my toddler's pre-school. The parents of both had failed to advise the teachers, and one child actually continued to attend school!  The baby showed signs of infection two days earlier than her sibling. She had a fever for two days, followed by a very non-specific rash. A few pink papules on her cheeks, but mostly on her elbows and knees. The evening the rash appeared, I took her to see her paediatrician, who diagnosed a very non-specific"viral exanthem", meaning a rash due to a virus. It wasn't until her sister developed a rash around her mouth two days later that I knew what we were dealing with. After inspection of her hands and feet, it became clear that they had "Hand-Foot-Mouth disease", an infectious rash usually caused by a type of Coxsackie virus.

Our toddler missed an entire week of school. But because the girls were infectious, our activities were limited. We went for a walk with the double stroller every morning, usually ending up at what my toddler calls the "sticker store" but is in fact the local Dollar store. The afternoons we spent at home, doing a variety of activities such as reading, singing, dancing and arts and crafts. Thankfully our girls got along quite well during our week in quarantine.

Just when I thought I could not handle another day in quarantine, two things happened. The paediatrician  confirmed that the girls were no longer infectious, and I remembered that my husband was off for Good Friday.

We all managed to sleep in in Friday morning, something very rare as of late. We also enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of pancakes and bacon (for the non-vegetarians). We then headed to the Biodome, a Montreal-area family-friendly facility that allows visitors to walk through replicas of four eco-systems. There are apparently over 4,500 animals from 250 different species, and over 500 plant species.

Both girls were very intrigued. The baby seemed to be looking at everything and everyone, quietly taking in her new environment. Out toddler seemed a little frightened by some of the animals, but overall seemed to enjoy herself.

All in all, it was the perfect end to an imperfect week!

Entering the tropical forest

Watching the fish?

Enjoying the slide adjacent to the otter slide

Home Alone

I asked her to smile for the photo!

Home alone with the two kids, that is. My husband headed back to work this Monday. I was exhausted over the three weeks that my husband was home to help. But the real test, in my mind at least, would be this week. Here's how it went:

Monday.
Horrible night on Sunday. The baby decided to wake up every hour for more milk. Growth spurt perhaps?! As well, I was up earlier than usual, as my husband had to leave for work by 7h30. Over the last three weeks, he had been feeding our toddler breakfast, a task that once again became mine. The morning actually flew by despite my exhaustion. My sister, a school teacher, was off for spring break and offered to help out with the Brat. She arrived at 11, and stayed for 3 hours. I don't think I could have done it without her. She fed our toddler lunch, and entertained her better than I could have under normal circumstances. I tried to nap while she was here, but to no avail as the baby wanted to drink very often. My sister left at 14h, our toddler's usual nap time (if she was so inclined). Much to my dismay, she decided she did not need to nap. However she did play surprisingly calmly the rest of the afternoon. My husband arrived shortly after 17h and took over. And because our toddler had not napped, she fell asleep very easily a little before 20h.

Tuesday.
My first real day alone. Another tough night. Baby awoke every 1-1.5h for more milk. I felt like I was running an all-night cafe! Usually we have a housekeeper at our house on Tuesdays. She has quite a bit of experience as a nanny, so I thought I could ask her to help feed our toddler. But she had requested to work this Thursday rather than Tuesday, so I truly was alone. At some point in the morning, I found myself sipping some caffeinated tea (another rarity as I usually drink tisane), and thinking that it was not so bad, I could handle this new job of stay at home mom to two young children. Then I looked at the time. It was only 10h! Only 7.5 hours to go!!! I am not sure how I made it, but somehow 17h came around, and before I knew it, my husband was home. A little later on, with the Brat in bed, and my husband holding the baby, I was tidying up the kitchen. In my trance-like state, I knocked over a cup of tea onto my laptop. Although my husband would say it had nothing to do with exhaustion, just my usual clumsiness...As I type these words (on my desktop), my laptop remains nonfunctional...

Wednesday.
Finally, a better night! She awoke every 2.5-3 hours, and her mama finally got some sleep! The day flew by. It was 12 degrees Celsius outside, and normally I would have ventured out, but the idea of running after my toddler as I held onto the baby's stroller somehow did nor seem appealing! Surprisingly, our toddler decided to nap at 16h. She must have been exhausted. I only let her sleep for an hour so that she would not go to bed at midnight. As the baby was also sound asleep (and would be for another half hour) this allowed me 30 minutes to myself, a rarity these days!

Thursday.
I was very much looking forward to Thursday. My mom's day off work! She arrived shortly before 9h. I left the baby with my mother (along with some pumped milk) and headed off to the YMCA with my toddler. We participate in a parent-child activity every Thursday at 10h called Kindergym. We sing songs, then play for an hour. While my husband was off work, they had attended together, and I had actually missed the class. Not only was it nice to get out of the house, I enjoyed chatting with the other moms, and simply jumping around with the kids. Attending the class was invigorating, and made up for the rest of the day. Our toddler was certainly acting up after the class; she refused diaper changes, wanted to stay in her pajamas, and had difficulty staying at the kitchen table during mealtimes. I am not entirely sure how my mom's presence contributed to this, but I am certain it did. Was she allowed to get away with everything while at Grandma's?

Friday.
As has become a weekly tradition, our toddler spent Friday at her grandma's. I thought it would be a great opportunity to catch up on some sleep. I would nap each time the baby did. She slept soundly while being held, but she woke up the instant she was put down. I need to learn to sleep standing up!

Then something quite unexpected happened on Friday. Our newborn smiled! On a few occasions. And it was seemingly unrelated to sleep and gas. And just like that, it made the rough week worthwhile!

Our Tennis Staycation

What our baby thought about the staycation

What a novel idea, I thought, when I first heard the neologism for a stay-at-home vacation. You save on transport, lodging and food, and get to take in local attractions. We opted for a staycation this week as it coincided with Montreal's Rogers Cup. We had purchased tickets for every session well in advance. The only limiting factor was the Brat.

While the baby seems to enjoy swinging a tennis racquet, and even attempts to hit her nerf balls on occasion, spectating is a different story. We took her last year to this same tennis tournament when she was barely 6 months old. She behaved for relatively short periods of time, but we did not want to risk disturbing the players on Centre Court (for which we had tickets). I remember thinking last year that this year would be much easier. She could sit on our lap at centre court, we would explain the game to her, and she would be so enthralled as to quietly watch the matches. What was I thinking?!

We didn't even attempt to bring her along this year. We knew from the outset that she was too active to sit still for any length of time. Additionally, the weather was not cooperating. At the beginning of the week, the temperatures were too hot to have her sit outdoors, and by mid-week pouring rain had postponed a few of the matches.

In the end, my husband and I alternated caring for her and attending the tournament. Mostly, my husband attended during the day, while he watched her at home in the evening. This definitely defeated the purpose of us attending together, but like real vacations, nothing guarantees success.

The semi-finals and finals will take place this Saturday and Sunday, and my mother and sister have generously offered to watch her while we attend. Perhaps there is still hope that this staycation will be salvaged... or perhaps the next time we organize a staycation, the Brat comes first!