A day in the life of a teething baby

I think Ben is teething. He was up all night crying - a poor little whimpering cry. The kind of cry that means he just does not feel well. I have had to hold him all day long and today was supposed to be my cleaning day. Even Emily can't entertain or distract him. I have been giving him Tylenol just about every 4 hours since last night and he is still fussy and cries whenever I put him down for more than a couple of minutes. Poor little guy and poor me!

When Brad came home at 3:30 pm (he worked last night and slept all day at the hospital) the laundry was not done, the floor wasn't swept and there were sticky spots everywhere from the PB & J sandwiches Emily made for us yesterday, the dishes were still in the sink, there was a huge mess downstairs in the toy room, and don't even ask what's for dinner. I was at the end of my rope. So Brad, the wonderfully helpful husband that he is, took over the kids and told me I could have 2 1/2 hours of no kids time to take a nap, go shopping, whatever.

So what did I do???? I put on my headphones and listened to Digging to America by Anne Tyler (my current book on tape - I'll blog about that another time) and did laundry, swept and mopped the floor, wiped the kitchen counters, table and chairs, loaded the dishwasher, cleaned up the living room, and told Brad to order a pizza (I had a coupon and I didn't want to mess up my nice clean kitchen) after he had the kids clean the downstairs. You might wonder why I chose that instead of going somewhere or taking a nap. That would have been nice, but sometimes what helps me the most is just time to get something done without being interrupted.

Now as I sit here at the computer with Ben dozing on my lap (he had his last dose of Tylenol about 30 minutes ago), I can blog knowing that my kitchen, living room, and toy room are clean (laundry is still a work in progress). Thanks Brad for coming home and helping (I know you didn't have a good night either). I appreciate how understanding you always are. Maybe tonight/tomorrow will be better. As for me, I'll be going to bed early (unless, of course, Ben decides otherwise).