The hard days...I have been having a string of hard days. Eoin is on his eighth day of his first stomach bug. We are both fed up with diaper changing. I am barely keeping my head above the surface of my laundry pile...Don't even talk to me about the yellow/brown stains over most of the receiving blankets, towels, and baby clothes. Ugh. And you try getting a baby back to sleep at two am after three diaper changes in the course of a single feeding.

I'm exhausted. When Eoin woke especially early this morning, I attempted to sleep with him awake next to me on the bed. Nice try. Lay Eoin on the floor with some toys, and he would be quietly occupied forever, it would seem. Lay him on the bed with some toys while you try to sleep, and he alternates between squealing and crying. He wanted Mama's attention! He's used to having unlimited access to my eyes, voice, and touch, but I was just so tired! Just a little more sleep, Eoin, let Mama sleep just a little longer...

Poor little guy. And poor me. And poor Ashley. Do other parents out there struggle with the evening grind of cooking supper, tidying afterwards, finishing the other odd chores, and putting the baby to sleep? The evening grind is grinding Ashley and I to dust. Of course, it doesn't always feel as unmanageable as it has the past few days. It certainly has been a string of hard days.

The hard thing about hard days with a baby is, after a hard day, there's no such thing as saying, "Shag that," to the housework and jumping into a hot bath with a glass of wine; no such thing as spending the evening in front of the TV or a novel with most of your brain and all of your muscles switched to the OFF setting; no such thing even as packing it in early (at least, not for me and my strict pumping schedule.) In fact, hard days are exactly like every other day (see "evening grind" above)...just harder.

I guess I should look on the bright side. I guess these hard days are, like, making me a better person...right?