Deviation Disaster

Okay, maybe disaster is an over statement, but I thought it was a good alliteration. Anyway, I wanted to post a blog on how deviating too far from a routine can get me into trouble with my kids as I mentioned in this blog. Yesterday was a good example ... it was only a small deviation, but it still had it's consequences.

Our family is living with one car right now. Since Colin lives so close to his work that hasn't been a problem, but lately he's been going in to work pretty early ... like 6:30am and I'm not willing to wake the kids up to take him so that I can have the car. Do you blame me?

Anyway, Colin went in to work late yesterday, so that I could have the car. Normally, I'd have already fed Micah and packed a breakfast for Jackson so that we could drop Colin off at work by 8am and then head to the grocery store and make it home before Micah's morning nap. There are so many good reasons why it's better to shop in the morning (it's not crowded, my kids are better behaved, the produce is fresher and I can check out MUCH faster).

However, I did not have my meals planned out for the week and I didn't have a grocery list, so I decided to wait until after the afternoon naps to go grocery shopping. The idea was to go at 4pm and be done around 5:30pm to pick Colin up from work and then if Micah needed a third nap we'd be home for it.

In reality we didn't really get out of the door until around 4:30pm (you know how that goes). The grocery store was very busy and I had a long list of things to buy. Around 5:15pm I realized that I was not going to make a 5:30 pick up for Colin, but didn't sweat it. Then by the time we were checking out Micah was ready for that third nap, but I was still not sweating it, not too much anyway.

I gave Colin a call when we were on our way to pick him up at 6pm and he said that he was not quite ready for us yet. GRRR ... I was TRYING not to sweat it at this point. We usually eat dinner around 6pm. Luckily I had packed some crackers and milk for Jackson to eat at the grocery store, but when we got to Colin's work I popped the trunk and also got him an apple. I was surprised at how well Micah was doing at this point.

We got home around 6:30. Colin and Jackson unloaded the groceries and Colin went back to work (yeah ... it's been that kind of week for him ... not fun). I quick got Jackson some meat (he'd already had an apple and crackers) and then made Micah's food. By this time Micah was getting a little frantic about being hungry.

So now Micah had been without his third nap and ate a half an hour after his normal time and only an hour before his bedtime. My fear was that he'd get full on solid food and not nurse well at bedtime. So, I only gave him about half to three fourths of what I would normally give him. It was enough to make him happy.

By 7:30 Micah was ready for bed ... and you moms know what I mean by "READY for bed." He fell asleep nursing. Bummer. Because he fell asleep nursing he didn't drink as much and he didn't burp well. Bummer. But he was asleep. Maybe the deviation from his routine wouldn't have that big of an affect on him.

11:30pm Micah woke up crying, not a scream, just a cry. I tried to burp him, but was unsuccessful. I finally ended up giving him gas drops and a pacifier and that seemed to do the trick. I hadn't even gone to bed yet, so it's not like I lost sleep. I went to bed hoping that that was all he needed to make it through the rest of the night.

5:30am Micah woke up crying. I put the pacifier in.

5:35am Micah woke up crying. I tried to burp him and put the pacifier in again.

5:40am Micah woke up crying. I gave him the pacifier and he spit it out immediately. He wasn't hurt and wasn't showing any signs of being sick. So, I gave in and nursed him. As soon as he drank what he needed he fell right back to sleep and I woke him up at 7:45am.

My conclusion: not having a third nap and eating a late dinner meant that Micah was extremely tired at bedtime and did not burp well and nurse well enough to make it through the night.

My solution: make a grocery list the night before and go grocery shopping in the morning.

The good news is that, now that Jackson's older, that deviation had NO affect on him at all. I look forward to the days when Micah will follow suit.

Lesson learned!