About Time

I have a few thoughts on time today:

1. As many other people have noted, the time changes associated with daylight savings time are hard on babies and their parents. Perhaps this should tell us something about how stupid it is that we mess with our internal clocks twice a year.

I forgot all about the change until Friday, by which time it was too late to do a gradual shift in Pumpkin's schedule. Luckily for me, we had a very good friend from New Zealand in for a short visit this weekend, so were going to screw with Pumpkin's schedule, anyway. We ended up making her miss her afternoon nap and keeping her out too late for dinner on Saturday, and interrupting her morning nap on Sunday. The end of result of this was a lot of crankiness and an early bedtime on Saturday, followed by frequent wakings throughout the night and the need to nurse in the middle of the night. There was also a lot of crankiness and a rather difficult brunch on Sunday, followed by an early afternoon nap, and a reasonable bedtime. Unfortunately, there were also a lot of wakings last night, including one on Hubby's shift that he managed to sleep right through until she was positively screaming and I was awake and asking what the heck was going on. (He was trying to be considerate and was sleeping on the sofa, so that I could get better sleep. A nice idea in theory.)

So, not a lot of sleep for either parent this weekend. We're both pretty shattered today. I'm going to bed before 9 tonight, and hoping that I get at least four uninterrupted hours of sleep (my minimum for reasonable happiness the next day).

2. People who think that the parents of a baby with sleep issues can and should adjust her schedule to fit their needs are insane. It is much better to adjust our schedule to fit hers. I am woman enough to admit she is in charge.

I was commiserating about this fact today with one of my new colleagues, the father of a child who was once a baby with sleep issues. He said he'd lost friends over this point. It hasn't come to that with us yet, but I do know that some of our friends who are not parents think we're batty and probably suspect we're either spoiling Pumpkin or using her as an excuse. Frankly, I don't have the energy to care about this right now, so I can see how friendships might be lost.

3. Why do people who come in to work after 9 but stay until 6 think that those of us who are in before 8 but leave by 4:30 are slackers? Even if I wanted to stay until 6, doing so would mean that I'd basically go to bed right after dinner.

Luckily, my new boss understands this and will defend my schedule for me.

Now it is time for bed.