What is it about us ‘MoMs’ that causes us to forget about all of the sleepless nights that accompany a newborn? We seem to block that part out of our memory once they start sleeping through the night, only to focus on the sweet little chubby babies that we have brought into this world. All of those long nights I spent watching info-mercials, while trying to feed my three newborn babies, trying to get that what-seemed-to-take forever (and impossible) ‘burp’ out of a sleeping baby, all without passing out from my own sleep deprivation. We brought the babies home just 17 months ago, yet those memories have been tucked away in the back of my mind with the cobwebs. That is until now. No, I am not sitting up at night jotting down the phone number for Mighty Putty or Greenbags (although I have since purchased both…).
Our house has been lacking just a tad bit of chaos, so we decided to add a puppy to the mix. Meet BECKHAM, our two month old chocolate Labradoodle.
I have been rudely reminded that puppies are very similar to newborn babies. Don’t get me wrong… this is MUCH easier than my experience with 3 newborn babies at the same time. However, at this point I have gotten used to getting a tad bit more sleep…. which I truly enjoy, by the way. What’s different this time around, is that I still have 3 teething toddlers in addition to the puppy. He’s awful cute though…. and oh-so-sweet!
And Morrie loves him already…. but Morrie is so big he scares Beckham to death.We brought him home last Saturday, and his first few nights went great. He cried a little during the night, but I didn’t let him out of his crate until he cried at 5:45am. I figured by then he definitely needed to go outside. I was so proud of him! The last few nights however have been a nightmare! Tuesday night started out ok and then out of the blue for some reason Eli woke up around 2:30am. Noah forgot to set the timer on the TV and instead of getting up to turn it off, Eli decided he needed to come tell me he couldn’t sleep. I think he may have gone through the babies’ room on his way out of his room, which managed to scare the bageebers out of Liam…. causing him to go into mass hysteria. I heard the gate on the stairs clang while I was trying to soothe Liam back to sleep (before Luke & Aidan joined in the fun). Once I got Liam quieted back down, Eli was on his way back up the stairs, still looking for me. While he was downstairs (combined with Liam’s screaming) he managed to wake up the puppy… who then started howling. This set Liam off again. Right about the time I was re-tucking Eli back into his bed (with no tv) Matt came around the corner, got Liam, and took him back to our bed. Just as soon as I got myself comfortable in my bed…. Luke started. O-M-G… I thought the night would never end. He wasn’t about to lay back down, so he too came to our bed. I know that this never works…. I think I was just hoping for some small miracle. No such luck. Of course Liam & Luke start fighting over blankets & pacis . Matt finally picked up one of them (I think it was Luke), grumbled a few choice words, and headed down to the guest room in hopes that he could catch a little sleep before getting up for work. I finally dozed off again, when Beckham started another round of his howling. For a small dog, he sure is loud. Liam was asleep so I picked him up and put him back in his crib. (Baby Aidan was sleeping like the angel he is, and had somehow managed to sleep through all the chaos.) I went back downstairs, pulled my pup out of the crate and took him outside. I brought him back in and attempted to put him back into the crate, which of course he wanted no part of. It was now play time. Rather than start the vicious cycle over again I just crashed on the couch, keeping one eye open to make sure he wasn’t eating something he wasn’t supposed to. The morning officially started at 5:45am when everyone decided to wake up for the day. What a long night! Last night wasn’t much better, but at least Eli stayed in his bed. What I find sad is that I know that we had two babies wake up last night, but for my life I don’t remember who. I think last night was Aidan and Luke, while Liam slept, but like I said I can’t be sure. Of course Beckham chimed in at some point, but I couldn’t bring myself to get up anymore. I am TIRED! He lived. He’s fine. He’s still cute.
Our house is a crazy house, and I’m a crazy MoM. I wouldn’t have it any other way though. Matt may argue that one with me. In a few weeks I’m sure I’ll forget about all of this again!Oh- one last ‘funny’. You know how I am the only female in the house, right? We thought we would try for a girl and got 3 more boys. We have Morrie… again… male. We were supposed to get a female puppy this time. Her name was going to be Bella. I was so excited to get a little princess with a little pink collar with rhinestones on it. Funny how things work. The breeder decided to keep the female and hence we have Beckham…. I just can’t win.
nikandthetrip says
June 5, 2009 at 7:52 pmwow, sure enough that was crazy! I know how nights can turn out like hell in seconds…..
P.S. "get the burp out of a sleeping baby" ….OMG so true..and do you remember when they all needed to burp in the same time and you have just two hands? we could write a book
Carrie says
June 6, 2009 at 2:59 pmIt is so great you are documenting these times so you can look back and get a good laugh!!