August 9, 2008

Jay and I got about 3.5 hours sleep total last night. Felix was up until 1am, and then up again from 4-5:30 then Elliot got up at 6 for the day.

I decided I still felt up to going to the Market, especially since it was a beautiful day. Jay was super cranky and I told him I could stay home, but he said he and Elliot would manage.

I got home at 12:30 (waaay later than I planned) to find that Jay's brother made a surprise visit home from Newfoundland!

Felix was very fussy while I was out. I had to stop and nurse him twice which I wasn't expecting, but of course babies this age are unpredictable! I had him over dressed, too, and with the hot sun, we were both roasting. When I got home, I discovered that he'd had hist first poo-splosion! All over me and the Mei Tai carrier, unfortunately.

Then Elliot decided to really act out by hitting and pinching Felix's face. Twice. Man, that child is fast and can be so mean. He drew blood. I wanted to smack him. On both sides of Felix's face, Elliot scraped off a layer of the baby acne. Felix screamed but calmed quickly. Elliot got a time out and a stern talking to, but for the rest of the day, whenever he managed to get within reach of Felix, he tries it again.

D and I took Elliot for a long walk around the block while Jay and Felix dozed. Right now, Jay and D have taken Elliot with them to the grocery store. Jay is still so cranky and Elliot is acting out a lot. I told Jay he should just leave Elliot home (which would suck for me) and he replied "Well, he doesn't need both parents wanting to strangle him."

I'm trying to spend 1 on 1 time with Elliot, to go to him first, etc, etc, everything I can think of so that he doesn't feel pushed aside, but it's so hard. Felix needs me all the time. And I need to get over these very strong gut-instinct urges to smack him when he hurts Felix. That wouldn't help - he'd never understand "No hitting" if that's the punishment he got.

And I'm pissed that I deal with 2 kids all day long on very little sleep and he can't seem to handle 1 for a few hours.