good luck Suzi I hope that it helps/

So my nephew's best friend and his mother came over. It was 2 very excited 8 year olds running around. There was a water balloon fight outside and then they went iside and played and Mom and his Mom and I chatted...while they yelled and carried on.

It was really hard for me to deal with on the heels of dealing with E almost constantly this week and E being loud and whiny and stuff like that.

Mom actually asked "Was today hard for you to handle" and I said yeah and that I was "really really really glad" E was going on vacation.

Which got me a retort of "That's mean!!"

Maybe I could have cut out a really but I don't hate my nephew but I've been less patient with him and more likely to snap at him as the week has gone on and I'm looking forward to this so I can get the space and not be frustrated nad overwhelmed.

I didn't think I said anything in a mean way, just relieved. I don't know how to react to this or handle it. But between this and Mom's "That's just WEIRD" reaction to seeing me stim I'm less inclined to talk to her about things.

I have tickets to a concert on Friday, and I'm just not sure I can handle it. It would mean being over an hour away from ltc, which I have never done and neither TCG or me being there for her bedtime. She is getting better about drinking milk from a sippy cup, but she always breast feeds at bed time. I realize that she is over a year old and I sound more than a bit pathetic. My anxiety levels are really high right now, and I have ltc's birthday party a week from today.

Oh I understand well, sj. If you and TCG are not ready then give away the tickets. If you can't enjoy yourself it doesn't make sense to go.

I really want to go, but I'm torn. TCG is fine either way. It's not "his" concert.

TCG is in the living room with ltc. I'm on the other side of the house. So how is it I have to be the one to tell him that she is hungry and/or needs a new diaper? Can he not hear her increasingly loud babbling?

One of my "fondest" memories is when Bobby was an infant and very fussy and I was so exhausted that DH sent me to nap and took him into the bedroom with him. Instead of settling down he got louder and louder until I couldn't take it anymore and went to check. Found the baby on DH's chest whaling while he snored away. Sigh.

Hasn't there been a study (or five) about how women's brains are especially wired to pick up the nuances of a baby's cries? I would research and cite a source, but my brain is breaking on doing that for my current paper.

Anyone here work for Lear Corporation? I'm doing a paper on thier corporate culture. Finding peer reviewed resources is having my head spin in circles, hence the current break.

I am the only one who could tell the difference between her cries when she was smaller, including people like my mother. TCG is a really good dad, but if he is reading, even if he is in the room with her he can tune out most of her babbling (she doesn't really cry much). Where I hear the slightest sound she makes even when I'm fast asleep in the middle of the night.

Hasn't there been a study (or five) about how women's brains are especially wired to pick up the nuances of a baby's cries?

This woman's brain does no such thing, I'm afraid. Although I can pick up the nuances of my cats' cries, so maybe it's just a matter of exposure.

I am the only one who could tell the difference between her cries when she was smaller, including people like my mother.

Maybe it's more that the MOTHER'S brain is wired to pick up the nuances of her own baby's cries.