Rarely do I Rant on the Blog as this Should be a Happy Place, but sometimes a Mama just has to go off!

To say that Madeline's Daddy and I are upset is a major understatement. To say that Madeline is completely, 100% out of sorts is also a major understatement. After a series of unfortunate events while we in Montreat having a lovely time, our daughter was NOT taking her 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon and basically not kept on her similar routine. This does not work well for a 9 month old that is used to her structured day! We were told that Madeline screamed for an hour at this nap hour. I'm not sure as to why that was the case as she does NOT do this for us. Play and sit herself up, yes. Scream, NO! Obviously some type of routine was not followed.***

Things were SMOOTH as glass for a solid couple of months before we went away for this weekend trip. Madeline was napping each morning and each afternoon. (If you have read other posts, you will know that naps were a struggle around here, so I was glad that things seemed to be finally falling into place. Apparently, I got TOO comfortable.) She was sleeping well during the day, so therefore, she was sleeping well at night. She was even getting to where she was snoozing until almost 7 AM each morning! Whew, what a blessing! We were passed all the 5 AM wake-ups when she was not napping well each day. It's funny how the better Madeline naps during the day, the better her nighttime slumber is and the later her wake-up time is.

Let me document our timeline since returning from this trip in order to fully appreciate this rant:

Sunday -- return around 4 PM, were told that Madeline had no afternoon nap neither Saturday nor Sunday, try to visit with a bleary eyed/overly tired/cranky baby, try to feed dinner but she's so cranky/overly tired she cries, try to cheer up with a bath (no cheer!), put to bed & baby falls asleep almost immediately for about 30 min., screams/cries/carries on until 10 PM Sunday night (VERY ANGRY parents!)

Monday -- Madeline rouses about 6 AM (much earlier than normal), cranky/fussy baby eating breakfast, cranky/fussy baby goes back down about 8 AM and sleeps the usual morning power nap (clearly not enough sleep for an overly tired 9 month old), stressed out Mama has to take this cranky baby to her dentist appt. around noon, fussy baby around 1:30 PM but doesn't fall asleep until 2:30 PM and wakes up around 4 PM (intermittent crying/wake up early -- she NEVER did this before this weekend), baby goes to bed at normal hour/seems to sleep okay until she wakes up at 4:45 in the MORNING

Tuesday -- It's 5:43 AM, and I'm ranting & blogging since I've been up since 4:45 AM! Tired & angry Mama decides she needs to vent!

Did I mention things were as smooth as glass before this weekend away? Did I mention we have an unhappy & out of sorts baby, an angry Mama, and an upset & stressed Daddy residing in our house? Did I mention we HAD one of the happiest babies on the planet? Did I mention how long it took me to get Madeline on this awesome schedule that was wrecked in a matter of 48 hours?

Enough said. End of rant.

Here's hoping that I can report Madeline going back to her normal self VERY SOON (and her normal self is documented in the post dinner fun over Memorial Day weekend entry below)!

***Disclaimer --- While I do not have the unrealistic expectation that whoever keeps our child for a weekend, do the things EXACTLY as I would do them, I do expect the typical routine to be followed and carried out as I do leave "directions/routines" (my inner teacher & sub plans come out). Clearly, as events late Sunday afternoon until now will prove, things were not kept routine. Routine is important around here...