Day 294 - Baby-induced Stockholm Syndrome

Ok, so I'm officially exhausted. Everyone (who's everyone anyway) always said that you need to get all of the sleep you can muster when you have a kid. I will agree that was definitely the case during early months of Ellie's life. Those wake-up calls every three hours for feeding were a nightmare. Even though I wasn't the one doing the feeding, that didn't really stop me from feeling the effects. I'd even try to hang out with Bethany while she was feeding Ellie to help her stay awake. 

So, yeah, that was one example of being exhausted. However, my current exhaustion flows from a much different source. In fact, it's not sleep related at all (although I'd never turn down getting additional sleep). Instead, I feel the need to attribute it to more of a mental exhaustion. Or perhaps some kind of Stockholm syndrome. What's that, you want me to explain further? Ok, I guess I can do that.

TV's Tom Bergeron teaches us about Stockholm Syndrome.

Ellie is beginning to rebel. Well, of course she's beginning to rebel; she's a toddler. It's not like she's dying her hair strange colors, wearing all black, and putting spacers in her ears. No offense to anyone with spacers, but I'm hoping she ignores that fashion trend someday. Ellie's actually a very well behaved baby and listens quite well. It just so happens that what she is rebelling against is like a personal attack on me. The thing as to which she is rebelling against is naps. **gasp**

I'm very aware that I've long been spoiled by Ellie's exceptional nap routine. How exceptional? An average of two naps a day combining for at least three and a half hours. And how wonderful those three and a half hours could be. As I've mentioned previously, Ellie can be an insanely light sleeper meaning the house needs to be bathed in pure silence during her naps. That means no dishes, no laundry, and definitely no vacuuming. In fact, if it's any louder than a mouse breathing, I'm assuming it would wake my daughter. Although, if it's Mickey, his breathing probably would wake her. He is a human-sized rodent after all.

Why yes, Mickey. I may be going crazy...

While the whole Ellie not sleeping thing isn't the end of the world, it can feel that way at times to yours truly. For one thing, I've become accustomed to having that baby free time set aside each day for recovery. Because if there's one thing all stay-at-home parents know, it's that some recovery time is necessary just to give you a mental break from your baby if nothing else. More importantly than that though is that the baby honestly just needs sleep.

Needless to say, I do get tired of being with Ellie at times although I still do love her. In fact, as I voiced to Bethany earlier tonight, I think it's possible that parents do suffer from a form of Stockholm syndrome. I say this because as we sat watching TV, I came to the conclusion that I missed the baby even though she was just asleep upstairs in her room. Not to mention the fact that she had spent basically the entire day driving me insane.

It was at that this point I realized parenting is essentially 18 years of Stockholm syndrome. You're essentially a captive to this tiny human's every beck and call. Judging from the advice of parents with teenagers, that won't change anytime soon either. In the meantime, I guess I should figure out a new way to combat/deal with mental exhaustion. Either that or I just need to permanently get used to the concept. #DaddyWrite