Adventures in babysitting

Last night, I got to babysit Justin overnight for the first time. When Georgina asked me to do so, she said Justin was sleeping through the night so I shouldn’t have any problems. I remember thinking, but what’s the point of babysitting if he isn’t awake. Well, I certainly got the full experience last night.

Giving Justin his final feeding for the day was interesting. When he had drunk about half of the bottle contents, Justin started pushing the bottle out of his mouth. But a minute after he pushed it out, he would cry, only stopping when I gave him back the bottle. (I think he likes the feel of the nipple. Could he be teething already?) Before we had done, Justin spit up milk twice, the first time getting both himself and me quite wet. (Thanks Justin!) But I was only able to redress Justin before he “demanded” my attention.

I put him to bed at 11 p.m. but an hour later, he was awake and crying. He wasn't wet, so I rocked him for awhile and put him back to bed. At 1:30 a.m., he was crying again. As I tried to soothe him, Richard told Justin, "Your auntie is tired so you need to go to sleep." But Justin wasn't sleepy so Richard took a turn trying to soothe him and later fed and burped him. (I figured since he had thrown up twice earlier that he might be hungry.) I think I was dozing but finally realized that both Justin and Richard had fallen asleep. So I took Justin from Richard and put him in the bassinet at 2 a.m.; in the process, Justin woke up, but eventually went back to sleep.

When he woke at 3 a.m., I decided Justin must realize he's not at home and that's why he keeps waking up. And so, even though I know Georgina doesn't want him to get accustomed to falling asleep in someone's arms, I took Justin and laid him flat on my stomach so that we could both get some sleep. That worked until about 5, when he sounded like he was choking or gagging, so I flipped him on his back but still kept him with me. Finally, about 6, I put him back in the bassinet where he continued to sleep until about 7ish.

Whew! Don’t get me wrong; I adore my nephew and enjoyed the time with him. But I’m exhausted. How do Carl and Georgina - and all parents - do this everyday?