It was fun hanging out with Nat and before we knew it, the time had come for Kai to hit the hay and for her and Tim to be off. Matt arrived a half hour later and not much was required of us for the evening. That is, until I had the bright idea of waking Kai at 10-ish for what moms call a "dream feed." The poor little dude didn't know what was happening. I was on bottle duty, preparing the milk and Matt was off to get him out of the crib. He was stunned for about the first five minutes. He didn't move or look around. He looked as though he was still sleeping but with eyes open. And then the whinging began. And it didn't stop.
For the next 35 minutes, we tried to calm him down, relax him, rock him, feed him, hold him, put him back in his crib (that was the worst! he cried even louder!) cuddle him, sing to him...NOPE. As Aussies would say, he still "had the shits." I've never said the F word so many times in my life. Ok, maybe just one other time I can think of, but truly--this occasion called for it. What does one do with a crying baby who pushes the milk bottle away? Tears were pouring out. Oh no--he really is sad!
Finally, I just put him down in his little rocking-type bouncer chair. The crying stopped. He got busy playing with his little colourful toys. Ahhhhh...much better. Ears can relax. Now let's try the bottle again. I held it up, hoping he'd catch a glimpse of it in his peripheral. Yes! His mouth opened wide and his hands reached up. Thank You, Jesus.
As I rocked his little bouncy chair, he continued to happily feed himself milk with his two round little hands clasped tightly around the bottle. Done. Beautiful. Now back to bed. Bye Kai. How do parents do this day in and day out? I was exhausted after just a few hours. Don't ask what Matt thought about it. Hopefully now people won't keep asking us when we're gonna have kids. Seriously? If you're still wondering, maybe you should start reading from the top again.
This doesn't diminish our love for children. No doubt we believe they are all precious, bundles of joy. But right now, I think we're just happy to look after them, run around with them, watch them grow, and learn from them. We love you, Kaibee. Can't wait for you to start talking!
