When Sona and I used to question whether or not we really wanted kids–you know, when it was getting down to crunch time and we were getting nervous–we used to jokingly answer, “Who else will we spend Christmas mornings with?”

We were half-joking, at least.

You see, we take holidays seriously around here. That’s mostly due to my influence, I suspect. After spending 14 years with someone who starts eagerly anticipating Christmas in June, it kind of rubbed off on Sona. And, for various reasons, neither of us ever celebrated those big, idyllic family holidays as children. So, we’ve always fantasized about what we call our “Home Alone moment”: coming downstairs on Christmas morning, finding a kitchen packed full of family. All in matching pajamas. And sipping hot cocoa. With Bing Crosby crooning in the background.

Okay, you get it.

The point is, we always kick off our holiday season by going apple picking at County Line Orchard in Hobart, IN. And this year, of course, we were so very excited to take Finn along. He had no idea what was happening, as you can imagine, but we had the best apple-picking trip, yet. And lugging our little babe through the orchard made what was already one of our favorite days of the year that much better–even if he did sleep the entire time (except when he wailed through an attempted mini photo session).

We went with our good friends who happen to have a baby, Veen, just a couple weeks older than Finn. Finn and Veen are BFFs. Or, at least, that’s how their parents have planned it.

Here are some photos of our day!

Can you tell that Finn was SO excited?

When your friends’ baby is like 100x more chill than your baby.

…But you love your little stinker, anyway.

My mama actually didn’t say that. She said something like, “I told you he wasn’t going to sleep at night because you let him sleep all day.”

But don’t mind me. I’m just repeatedly humming this old song by The Shirelles so that I don’t crawl into a corner, rocking back and forth.

That is, today SUCKED. There’s really no better way to say it. And it wasn’t even one of Finn’s worst days, but it felt like one of ours. It’s nearly 9:00, we’ve just showered, we haven’t eaten dinner, I have a laundry list of work-related stuff to do, we have to get up early tomorrow to visit an in-home daycare, and I’m having a pity party.

We should’ve seen today coming. Yesterday, Finn slept all. day. long. I mean, he slept like 16-18 hours, and he’s been sleeping 12-13. We couldn’t keep the kid awake. He fell asleep while eating; he fell asleep while FaceTiming grandparents; he let us take a 2 hour family nap in our bed without making a peep.

Of course, at the time, it seemed blissful, but we’re paying for it today.

He actually slept fairly well last night, but during his 4-7 chunk of sleep, he grunted like a pig for three hours straight. He slept through it, lucky guy, but we were awake the entire time, just waiting for him to start fussing.  Gotta get that kid in his crib!

So, this morning we “woke up” tired, and Finn woke up on the edge of fussiness. It was the kind of morning that even homemade vanilla bean scones couldn’t save (though, they were the highlight of my day).

The rest of the day followed suit. He only took three short, 40-minute naps (and woke up screaming from each of them), despite clearly being exhausted. He fussed more than usual. And he had a code red meltdown when I tried to give him a bottle this evening.

He’s been good about bottles, mostly. However, for reasons only mystics could decipher, he refuses a bottle every other day or so. I spent 40 minutes trying to coerce him into taking the bottle, him in a full-on chin-trembling, face-reddening wail the entire time.

All of this is really compounded by the fact that, in a handful of days, Sona goes back to work, and I’ll be going at it solo, bottle feeding Finn throughout the night (mystics willing) and caring for him five days a week until I start teaching full-time again in January.

Even though Sona and I haven’t exactly been stealing kisses in the corner today (let’s be honest), I’m more than a little anxious about losing her as a parenting partner over the next several months. I know that most moms fly solo from the very beginning, and we’ve been fortunate to have each other for a full two months, but I’m spoiled now. And I don’t want to face the music just yet.

(And now I will post a gratuitous photo of Finn in a shark robe to remind all of us, but mostly myself, that there’s more good than bad.)