So last night I tried joining my friends for a little City of Heroes. We have a supergroup that plays every Wednesday night. In the weeks leading up to the birth of my twins, I found myself having less time to play, but still managing to get my weekly fix.
I haven’t played now in almost 11 weeks. Last night, I thought might be different. I dared hope on the drive home that the kids would hang out with me in their rocker, or on my lap, or take a nap.. whatever.. just to me a little free adult computer time.
Nope. I managed to login. Then Alia starting crying. Managed to calm her down. 5 minutes had passed. Put her down. Talked on Teamspeak for about 3 minutes to coordinate which characters we were going to play. Connor starts crying. Pick him up. Both of these crying fits aren’t the simple ones that can calmed down by a little soothing talking. It requires both hands, and some bouncing and a lot of shushing…
5 more minutes had passed. She stops crying, but gets the wide eyed “I’m going to scream” look as soon as I even hinted that she was going to be put down.
Connor starts crying.
So now both babies are wailing. I’ve been in game for about 13 minutes, but I’ve done absolutely nothing except stand at the train station, and configure Teamspeak for Push To Talk, so the rest of the group doesn’t hear my kids wailing.
Nope. Not going to happen. I excuse myself, tell everyone I miss playing, and that I’ll try it again later. Maybe next week will be better.
Connor really likes his swing, and both kids have a vibration mode in their bassinets that helps to put them to sleep at night. So maybe what I really need to get is this:
Robot feet turn cribs into rockers
Cory Doctorow:
Lullabubs are rocking robotic feet that fit under the legs of most baby-prisons, playpens, cribs, etc, and then synchronistically rock your proto-human back and forth without the need for boring adult intervention. Link (via Gizmodo)
Now, I’m going to take offense at the tone of this clip. While I think calling them a proto-human is kinda funny (since we’re talking about robotic feet), and I think the author is genuinely making a sarcastic remark about the “boring adult intervention”. My kids get lots of interaction. Sometimes too much.
My wife and I live from feeding to feeding during the day when the kids are up. We’re both exhausted, and suffer from a lack of sleep. If these things can help me just find 30 minutes to myself, then they are worth it. Unfortunately, they aren’t available for ordering yet.
exhausted
Sorry you couldn’t join us last night. If there’s a time you think you might be able to squeak free (even at an odd hour), I’m sure Griffyn can make himself available for a little adult time by proxy for you.
Have you read The Happiest Baby on the Block? Good for soothing during those early months. Rowan also seemed to be pretty happy on a Boppy Pillow in my lap – which freed up my hands to play EQ (at the time). Of course, I had an advantage of the mommy kind (or two, if you count them) that you don’t have… instant baby sleep aid. *grin*
Yeah, that’s my biggest problem right now. Two of them. If I only had to deal with one, I’d be more likely to be able to come up with some free time. Thanks for thinking of me though. I’ll take a look at the Happiest Baby book. Do you have it?