The real problem with pregnancy is that you can't drink. This is a serious issue when you are living life with a crazy toddler.
In my past life, to ward off the blues and make myself a better Mom, I would drink one glass of wine with dinner. Suddenly, daughter's tantrums (or when she was a baby, crying) seemed easier to handle. Suddenly, I was "calm mom." Cool as a cucumber, baby.
Now, I must endure the endless tantrums SOBER. Unlike a cucumber, this is not cool.
I have to come up with different strategies to be a better mom. Like, I actually have to be a good parent, and read parenting books and listen to "experts." I have to practice methods, and deal with issues without the help of a wine haze.
This is tough.
Our first order of business has been to wear the child out as much as we can. The more time she has outdoors running off her steam, the better. Except apparently, this doesn't work as well as we thought - she tends to get hyperactive, and then refuses to go to bed, no matter how tired she is.
Our next step has been to make sure she's eating properly. Lots of healthy snacks. Except that we can't force feed her to eat, so sometimes she'll have low blood sugar tantrums, regardless of the snacks I'm providing.
So, on to the next strategy. Behold, my masterpiece:
This is designed to help make morning and evening routines more predictable, and hopefully ward off tantrums related to things she doesn't like to do (which is, apparently, everything). With each task accomplished, she gets to put cute magnets on the board. We tried it out tonight for the first time, and she loved it!
Except it's now 8:39pm and she still isn't asleep. She's gotten out of bed exactly 8 times...
So as I said...the real problem with pregnancy? No wine!!!
Thank you for being so honest. I totally felt that way during pregnancy (2nd one being harder because, as you perfectly summed up, wine does help with toddlers), but I always felt like I had a 'problem' when admitting it to others. Like I wasn't blissfully happy to be sober and drunk off pregnancy hormones. Unfortunately its also one more aspect of pregnancy that a supportive husband can never quite understand. I still find responsible drinking with nursing to be stressful (e.g. has it been long enough? but the baby is crying and it hasn't been 3 hrs. Oh no, its been 3 times this week, are there cumulative effects?) But in general I think I air on the side of caution and am enjoying the odd glass with dinner.
ReplyDeleteRe: 'expert' reading. We've been having our own book club over here too - 'French Kids Eat Everything' and 'Honey I Screwed Up the Kids' are remarkably entertaining and have given some solid advice, despite their whimsical titles. Maybe I can lend them to you next time we hang?
I had a very qualified lactation consultant tell me not to worry about my alcohol intake while nursing (unless I was drinking enough to make me drunk, of course). I heard about French Kids Eat Everything the other day - you'll have to tell me how it is!
DeleteLmao oh Misty I feel your pain!!
ReplyDeleteI remember moaning my way through my first pregnancy only to realize the 2nd time around that the first time Is like a holiday. The second time you have to cook and clean and mother and work and get up throughout the night and deal with sick kids. No amount of chocolate or deep breathing makes it easier ;)
Seriously, the first time was definitely a holiday. Now I look around my house and wonder how this chaos all happened :)
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