Blessed Beyond Measure: Baby Life Week 15: The Good and the Bad

This week, Eric and I were taught a lesson in taking the bad with the good. As I mentioned before, last week we finally got a new countertop in our kitchen. To do so, we had to make a big mess of the room to make way for the new countertop slabs. On Saturday morning, as we started to put our kitchen back together and realized that it would be nice to get it completely finished while it was already a mess, so that we didn't have to make the same mess all over again. Thus, we decided to learn how to tile as we retiled the kitchen backsplash and finally got the kitchen finished. Although this is by no means a bad thing, I think it did start a fire under the "bad" of the week. Usually, Eric and I enjoy working on house projects together, but with a baby things are different. On top of the work on the house, we now have the work of caring for a baby. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it is exhausting. When the weekend came, all we really wanted to do was relax and share some good old family time. That didn't happen. We spent Saturday shopping at home improvement stores, tiling and cleaning. By Sunday we were more exhausted than when the weekend began, and were wishing that Asher had a grandma nearby to help us out and give us a break. Unfortunately (for us and the Grandmas) that isn't the case. With all of that, by the time Monday came and the work week began, we were beyond tired and completely worn out.

On Monday morning, my back went out as I was putting our BIG boy into his car seat, adding to the fun of the week. As the week progressed work was a bit crazy for both of us adding to the exhaustion, physically, mentally and emotionally. We both began to get a little depressed about our daycare situation. Our daycare provider is Christina Hughes, who runs Kiddie Karousel from her home on the Northeast side of town. She is great. We were given a recommendation to check her out and could not be more thankful for that. When we called her references, everyone said nothing but amazing things about her and they hold up. She takes great care of Asher and he loves her. That is the good. Sometimes we feel like he loves her a little too much, and with our current exhaustion, that is how we felt this week. Asher is a morning person. When he is greeted in his crib, come sunrise, he is a chipper, smiley little guy. Thus, Christina gets to spend the day with our happy boy at his best...a boy who is social, playful, talkative and all-around fun. When we get him, he isn't exactly at his worst (because he really doesn't have a worst), but he is a different little boy. He is tired from a long day, which makes him less playful, more fussy and usually not in much of a mood for talking or laughing. That is the bad. We are so thankful to have found Christina, but it makes us sad that we miss out on so much time with him. This week that really hit home for us. We were both a bit depressed that the situation is what it is and we both have to work. Although I do enjoy my job, we would both really like me to be able to stay home with Asher so that he could spend his day with one of us rather than with another person. We both are scared that he will love her more than us. I know that probably sounds silly, but that is how we felt. As I mentioned in the prior posts, Asher has started to laugh. However, getting him to laugh is NOT easy and prior to this week, we were only able to happen twice. Christina though, apparently gets him to laugh "all the time." We questioned what "all the time" meant, but when I picked Asher up from daycare one day this week, I found that out. As Christina was talking to him (in her normal voice), he started laughing. THEN, he started to laugh as she put him into his car seat. Usually, when he is put into his car seat, he pitches a fit, but for her he laughed! We felt like she is The Other Woman, and were both quite jealous. We want to be the one he laughs for, but we're not. It is a tough pill to swallow. Thus, the bad. The situation is what it is, but if there were a way to change it, we would.

That is pretty much how the week went. We were bummed out, tired and missing time with our little guy. However, I will not end this post on a sore note. Although there was some bad in the week, I would not say that the week itself was bad. We still have a healthy little boy and every moment that we do get to spend with him is a blessing. Thus, I will leave you with the pictures and video that we have from those moments. Enjoy...