To celebrate our anniversary yesterday, we started by going to the gym. It was the first time we ever have been to the new Bakar Fitness Center. It was also the first time my feet have touched an elliptical machine in about a year. Sure it doesn't sound romantic, but the gym has a "Kid's Club" so we could drop off Dex to be looked after while we both get a little time to ourselves and work off some baby fat. It was awesome. I'm so out of shape, but not as bad as when I first took up going to gym a few years ago. Funny thing is, I was worried that the woman looking after Dex was going to hunt me down and tell me to come get him because he's crying. Yeah right, he slept and slept and slept. He slept for 4.5 hours which made me a bit upset because he hasn't been sleeping more than 2-3 hour stretches at night for the last few days because of his teeth coming in.
He slept until we got to our favorite romantic restaurant, the Moss Beach Distillery. He promptly woke up when our salads arrived. I had a bottle and fed him while Mike ate his salad. When he started crying, Mike took him downstairs, out of earshot of the other diners, to burp him while I finished my salad. Dexter was calm, smiling and happy when Mike brought him back to the table. Our steaks arrived in short order and I dug in and started to wolf down my food so Mike could eat after me and his food wouldn't be too cold. (I have learned to eat one handed or just use my mouth as a funnel to get meals done and over with in 2 minutes or less) Dex proceeded to spit up all over Mike's dress shirt. Mike tried to eat a little with Dex on his lap and ended up covering his shirt in mash potato goo as well. Dex started crying again, so I gulped down the last 4 bites and took over.
Mike got to eat and then we ordered dessert. Dex started crying again because he hadn't ate enough from the bottle, so I took him downstairs again, nursed him and burped him while Mike was eating dessert. He came downstairs and took over while I went upstairs and ate my dessert. After a few minutes, Mike came back upstairs with Dex. Dex was a mess crying and chowing on his hands. I showed Mike how to put his finger in Dex's mouth and let him go to town chomping which worked long enough for me to finish my bread pudding.
We got the check and hightailed it out of there. That was our anniversary dinner. It wasn't so bad, but it took an hour and a half and we barely got to talk or savor the pricey gourmet food. We were the only ones there with a child. I kinda like that we were brave enough to even attempt it. On the way home we picked up a teething ring to give our fingers a break.
I was exhausted from not getting enough sleep lately, so instead of walking around the awesome neighborhood trick or treater's street, we laid low and took turns dealing with Dex all out screaming periodically until 11pm. He finally fell asleep after a dose of Tylenol and just pure exhaustion from crying. He's kind of manic right now where he'll scream and can only be calmed by distraction. When he's distracted long enough he'll laugh and smile then start crying again. The teething ring does nothing compared to Tylenol or Hyland's homeopathic teething tablets. He's just too young to manage a teething ring, even if we hold it in his mouth. Our fingers do the job or a cold carrot if nothing else is working. Sometimes nothing works, so I just hold him close and rock him. I kiss his head, gently "shh" in his ear. Teething really sucks, but we noticed the bottom left pointy tooth is peeking through his gum. He's not getting his teeth in the normal order. How very Cobra-like to do it his own way and give his parents a fang for Halloween!
Of course he finally slept 4.5 hours straight and I woke up happy he'd given me a good stretch of sleep. How wrong I was! He decided it was morning at 3:30am and he just smiled and laughed and spit up all over his pajamas. I won't encourage him to play when it's night time, so I just changed his pajamas. I keep the lights low and talk quietly. This usually works and he's asleep within 20 minutes. Not this time… he started crying,laughing and making so much noise it woke up Mike. I needed a break by 5:00 am. I was exhausted and could not get Dex to sleep, even in total darkness. To top it off, I guess he didn't like our gourmet meal because he kept spitting up in huge quantities all over his pajamas. I'd change him and he'd do it again. I did this 4 times in 2 hours! He only had 3 things left hanging in the closet that were clean. Mike took over for about 30 minutes and gave him back to me because by this time Dex was all out screaming again. I took him and sometimes just a change of personnel does the trick. He went to sleep in my arms within 15 minutes. I ate breakfast and headed back to bed around 6:oo am. Mike just decided to head off to work since it wasn't worth going back to bed. Luckily, Dex slept until 9:30 am, so I got a little more rest and had breakfast #2.
Sometimes I wonder why people would ever want to go through all this more than once. I'm tempted to film a screaming baby episode to use as birth control if the thought ever crosses my mind again. (Yeah, who am I kidding? I'm already saving clothes "just in case".)
