It was quite a challenge getting dinner together because we still had all our normal Satudray chores to do (grocery shopping, laundry, house cleaning). And for some reason we thought it would be a good idea to go to Ikea too. We've been talking about getting new bookshelves for our living room for a long time. The old bookshelves were very difficult to childproof. The ones we had our eyes on at Ikea were naturally childproof with no additional hardware, would gives us much more storage in the living room, and look much nicer as well. We also needed some blackout shades for Elijah's room now that it is still light outside well past his bedtime. We put Elijah in the baby bjorn and spent almost 3 hours browsing the store. We ended up buying the bookshelves, black-out shades, and a large umbrella for the backyard. It was definitely a success! When we got home we decided to go ahead and put the bookshelves together ("it'll only take a few minutes, right?") We put one together and then discovered that a vital piece was broken in the second. So back to Ikea we drove, to exchange the broken piece and also to exchange the window shades (that we bought in the wrong size even after I told Daniel to measure the windows to make sure we bought the right size- can you tell I'm annoyed?). That ate up a good chunk of our day. We found ourselves about 3 hours away from people arriving at our house for dinner with one complete bookshelf, one half completed bookshelf, dinner half cooked, and a very tired and cranky baby. We had the bright idea to hang the blackout shades before Elijah goes to bed (because "it'll only take a few minutes, right?"). We were wrong again. We had to cut them down which involved measuring with a tape measure, marking the right size, cutting the fabric, and then using a hack saw to cut the rod at the top. Then realizing it's still too big and repeating the entire procedure to make it smaller. Meanwhile, Elijah had fallen asleep. I had to wake him up so as to not interfere with his bedtime, but then he was cranky and tired so I had to try to keep him happy while Daniel finished hanging the blackout shade. Sigh. So I was on bedtime duty while Daniel finished the bookshelf and cleaned up all the tools and cardboard boxes and baby toys strewn around the house. Oh, and finished cooking dinner. I put Elijah to bed and he cried. A lot. I finished cleaning the kitchen/living room so that it was presentable for company just as Daniel hopped into the shower. I had to pump before people came so I went downstairs, and then just as Daniel got out of the shower, his co-worker arrived with his wife. Twenty minutes early. With the baby shrieking in his crib. And me pumping downstairs. People. If your hosts have a 6 month old baby, DO NOT under any circumstances arrive TWENTY MINUTES EARLY to dinner. It was insane. I went upstairs and tried to soothe Elijah, but he didn't seem tired. Apparently I didn't wake him up early enough from his late nap. So I brought him out to the living room and he was adorable and charming. Our other friends arrived (Erik and Libby, also came to our Seder last year) and Libby scooped up Elijah and he gave her a big smile. Erik reached for him, picked him up, and Elijah proceeded to cry very loudly. I have never seen him do that. It was actually pretty funny. So then dinner was ready and I put Elijah in his crib and he fell asleep very quickly with hardly a whine. Thank you, Jesus.
We had a lovely dinner and way too much wine and collapsed into bed at the very unreasonable hour of 11 o'clock. Whew.
Sunday morning Daniel delightfully got up with Elijah at 6:30am and I got to sleep in until about 7:15am. When I did get up I discovered Daniel, Elijah, and the stroller were all gone. When they got home, Daniel informed me that the Easter Bunny had come. I went upstairs and Eljiah was on the floor in the living room gleefully playing with his Easter basket. Which was wrapped in clear cellophane that made a delicious crinkle sound when Elijah grabbed it.
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That kept him entertained for quite some time. We put him down for his morning nap and used that opportunity to shower and get ready for church. I wasn't extremely excited about going to church because the day before had been so hectic and Elijah's napping was all off. I thought we should focus on making sure Elijah got enough sleep in his crib. But I kept my mind open, and as it turned out, Elijah woke up from his morning nap a mere 25 minutes later. Not enough sleep at all. But we embraced it and got him all dressed up in his adorable outfit. We snapped a few pictures, and off to church we went.
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| Rosen Family- Easter 2013 |
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We had to get there about 30 minutes early to get decent seats (we learned this from last Christmas when we ended up way in the back). Elijah played happily on the floor and practiced his backwards crawling. We let our attention lapse a bit too long because the people behind us kindly tapped on Daniel's shoulder to let him know that our baby was now under their seat instead of ours. It was a little stressful keeping Elijah quiet and occupied, but totally worth it to spend that time together as a family. I have spent years dreaming about sitting in church with my husband on my arm and my baby on my lap. And it was every bit as blissful as I imagined. Daniel did a great job entertaining him for the first 45 minutes or so (including a 20 minute instrumental prelude before the service started). It was Elijah's first time seeing a live orchestra so that kept his attention for an unprecedented 10 or 15 minutes. He also enjoyed chewing on elmo (one of the only quiet toys we have- I didn't realize that almost all baby toys make noise!) and reaching for the back of the pew in front of him. Finally I took Elijah onto my lap and he played with my pearl necklace- while it was still on me- for a long time. He started to fuss, so I popped in the pacifier, held him close and rocked gently. He was asleep in minutes. I was in heaven. It's pretty rare that I get to hold Elijah while he's sleeping. I cherish those moments because I know they won't last long. 
Ten minutes later was the Hallelujah Chorus and just like that we survived our first Easter church service with a baby (almost certainly not our last). We managed to get Elijah in the car seat without waking him up and he slept for another 90 minutes in his bedroom, still strapped into the car seat. Not ideal, but I was so glad that he got a decent nap. We were able to have a leisurely lunch and finish the bookcase. When he woke up, we finished his other blackout shade, and with him playing and trying to crawl in the living room, we put together the glass doors to the bookcases. It was quite the productive day! And we realized that we officially have a mobile baby when we turned around and discovered that Elijah had found his way to our pile of screws and had them in his mouth! Yikes! He still isn't extremely efficient, but he does find a way to move around. And if he wants something bad enough, he will find his way there to get it.
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| Eiljah helping Daddy install the doors on the bookcase |
During bath time Elijah sustained his first major injury on my watch. He has a habit of leaning forward and standing up in the tub. As he did this, I used the opportunity to soap up his bottom and legs. I didn't realize that he was chewing on the sink faucet handle. He leaned a little too far and his weight shifted forward. So he basically fell onto the sink handle with his mouth on it. Ouch. He started screaming and all I could do was say "Oh no! Oh no! I'm so sorry!" over and over. Daniel asked me what happened, but I couldn't stop saying Oh No long enough to tell him. Fortunately Elijah calmed down in a few minutes and I could see that there was no visible injury there. It was scary and very sad. We were both happy when he was finally in his crib. He wailed loudly for 10 minutes before he was out for the night. We collapsed onto the couch and ordered food for delivery. Neither one of us had the energy to cook dinner after such a weekend. And now, after typing this diatribe, I am exhausted again. It was a great weekend even with the exhaustion. I just love any time I am with my little family. And I love that little boy like my life depends on it. Or like his life depends on it, I guess.
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