Thank goodness it's... Monday?

I know, that has to be one of the strangest statements you've ever read, particularly coming from me. But, I pretty much had a crappy weekend all the way around. I guess today wasn't bad, but Friday and Saturday weren't so much fun. Friday involved lots of pain and angst brought on by the electronic world in which I do most of my communicating, be it BB or email, partly of my own doing and partly of someone else's (depending on which incident we are referring to). I think that I, at least, am now all good with the two ladies I was in direct contact with (waves hi since I know they read my blog), but the situation did not make for an enjoyable day, I must say.

But Saturday was to be better, as we had a birthday party to go to for a good friend. We have had to decline several invitations to socialize with her and her spouse and the rest of our little group of late, mainly because they wanted to do stuff on weeknights after they got home from work (so, starting around 7 PM), and that's just not really feasible with Luke in tow. (Yes, all of our other friends are childless; why do you ask?) But this party was set to be about 15 people, including some other babies and children, and it was scheduled for Saturday at 4 PM. Great! We can actually make it, yet still leave early enough to keep Luke's evening routine intact. And, it will give him a chance to interact with other babies, as our ped has encouraged us to do. And lastly, it will get me out of the house for some VERY much needed adult interaction. (Not that DH isn't good company, but a little variety in the form of face-to-face adult time with someone else is in order on occasion.)

Luke, however, was not exactly cooperative. First, after a not-exactly restful night (thank you, fussy baby), we all overslept. As in, we *all* stayed in bed until Noon! Lovely (not). Get him up, get him fed, eat a little lunch, and he starts getting nap time-fussy. It's about 1:45. Good. He'll go down for his regular 2-hour nap (first one after he gets up); that will give us time to shower and get ready for the party. He'll wake up 3:30-3:45, we'll feed him, and we'll leave 4-4:15. That will put us getting there fashionably late, should be just about the time the food is ready, and Luke should be well-napped and well-fed. Despite what will be the frustrations of trying to get him in bed at a reasonable hour after we get home, it really couldn't have worked out better. He is usually happiest right after his 2-hour nap. Perfect!

Um, no. While he was sleeping, I showered, then laid down to finish Luke's nap with him, as I was still really tired for no good reason. DH went down stairs to nap there. Luke functions pretty much like clockwork. Guess it should have been a hint when he didn't follow "procedure" this morning. *I* woke up at 4:15, and he was still out cold! DH and I debated for a bit, and finally decided to wake him up at 4:25. I hated to, but his schedule was already whacked out enough, and I thought maybe we could start to get back on track. Not sure if letting him sleep would have helped or not, but we'll never know now. He woke up in a pretty good mood, though, so I figured he'd had enough sleep. Feed him, change him, and off we go.

Arrived about 5:30. Did I mention it started at 4? Oh well. Food hasn't even gone on the grill, and a few folks haven't shown up yet either. Looks like we're not the only ones running late. LOL It was pretty much a 4 PM-until type thing, so really not a big deal, I suppose. We come in, we meet-n-greet with everyone, especially those we don't know (a bit of a mixed-genre party, including school friends (us), work friends, band friends, family, etc), and Luke is fine. For about 15 minutes. I think he got a little flustered at all of the new faces, and he was already looking a little unhappy. We'd been doing our best to be happy and smile and let him know that everything was okay, but "the lip" kept sticking out on occasion. Add the bark of a 110-pound Great Pyrenees (something I don't think he's ever heard before), and he freaked! He was just hysterical. We finally got him calmed down, but he just wasn't the same after that. He seemed very nervous, very uncomfortable, and exceedingly clingy.

Another couple arrived with their two children; a 3-year-old boy and a 4-month-old girl. Great! They say six months is about when they really start getting interested in other kids, so I thought maybe they could do a little "tummy time" together if the other mother didn't object. They come in, the other mom seems just as happy as I am to see another baby. Baby A and Luke stare at each other for a minute, and he gets all hysterical again. (No clue what that was about. He just looked at her for a couple of minutes, then exploded.) Calm him down again, but he pretty much is whimpery/whiny the rest of the time.

It's now about 6:30, and Luke is starting to act tired. *How* can he be tired?!?! Around 7, I finally get to eat, after getting 10 minutes of "happy baby" while feeding Luke (squash and apples, yum!). At 7:15, Luke goes ballistic again for absolutely no reason (okay, maybe not; I did leave the room, but I left him with Daddy, for goodness sake), and he just will *not* stop crying. Nothing is working; food (in any form), teething stuff, swinging him, tossing him, singing to him, bouncing him, dancing with him, NOTHING! Fine, forget it, I give up. We pack up, hug the birthday girl good-bye, apologize profusely (I'm embarrassed, though no one really seems to mind), and all but run out the door. Still screaming. Get him packed up in the car. Still screaming, so I decide to sit in the back with him (they live about 20-30 minutes away, depending on traffic on the interstate). The car starts rolling, and he's fine before we've gone 3 blocks. Finds his thumb; OUT COLD! Get home around 7:45, he sleeps until 8, wakes up happy as a lark. Remainder of Saturday uneventful. Sunday pretty much standard, despite all of us being more or less grumpy.

I've never been so happy to see a Monday in my life. I can only hope next weekend, my very first Mother's Day, will be better.

Currently feeling: bewildered