Parenthood

Lauren loves to be held and for the past week or so she is only content when she is being held and will only sleep if she is being held.  That's a difficult task with a toddler in tow as well.  Anyway, I found myself describing and demonstrating the perfect hiccup ceasing hold and rock to Zach earlier.

Cradle hold with head on your left elbow.  Right arm down in between the legs with your hand on the tush.  Paci in the mouth, head tucked against your body.  Right hand slowly patting the tush while standing and rocking back and forth on your own two feet.  And no matter how much it hurts or how uncomfortable you are you do it over and over and over again.  And don't dare sit down.

It works, believe me. 

And the whole world falls apart when said toddler "whispers" to his sister.  Or when your cat jumps up on the bed and meows at the top of her lungs.  Or said baby sneezes and ruins all the hard work you just accomplished.  Or you really have to pee and must put down the baby and the last 15 minutes of soothing work flushes down the drain.

All of this soothing hold/rocking/patting lead us to a conversation about the perfect amount of time to hold the baby before attempting to put her down.  It's a delicate balance - too early and she pops those eyes open like "heeeey!" and too long and she just fusses and wakes back up within 3 minutes.  So we had a serious conversion about what that window of opportunity would be.

Just another Wednesday night.