Keeping on keeping on – Jenn this one is for you!
18 Aug 2010
I promised to blog today. Benedict woke up at 1-30am and then again at 5am. I went in a 5am to find him face down and unable to get himself right side up again. After a feed and a cuddle with mama the day officially started at 06-30.
I took the chance at 08-30 to have another thirty minutes sleep and not have a shower. I knew what this would mean. To have a shower with an awake baby is not easy. I set up a great activity centre in the hall – closed all the doors. Benedict was sitting in the midst of his fun filled hall and I went into the shower. I was all wet when the little hand appeared on the tiles – having crawled in to find me he discovered someone had locked his mama in a glass box and turned on the water! For the next two minutes I tried to have a shower while he wailed and banged on the door. Great! That 30 minutes of sleep though – still worth it.
Now I have been home alone solo-parenting for 5 days. I am tired. My throat is scratchy. I have taken a number of shortcuts. I have stopped changing the night singlet for an under onesie in the day time. One less piece of washing. I haven’t wiped the highchair after every single meal. I left Benedict in the car outside the coffee shop while I got my coffee. (He was in plain sight all the time and the windows were down. He was wide awake and able to scream his lungs out if necessary.) He didn’t even stop smiling.
I had a long chat with the other mums at mothers’ group about our various concerns. To some extent we are all up against it. Even now. Even though some of the babies are nearly 9 months. We are all still learning. Some of us are getting dangerously small amounts of sleep. But we have to keep going.
My challenge at the moment is to keep on keeping on. Or as they say in England – Keep Calm and Carry On.
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Sep 11, 2011 @ 21:51:18
[…] a reminder to me, that I can’t do it all. I’ve written about this before and here and here. The pressure to be a great mother, good housekeeper and home manager, work too and then in my […]
Aug 18, 2010 @ 16:37:30
ahhhh…smiling
If I were to blog today it might be titled “Night’s a Bitch” as we went from a terrible night the night before to a night with three wakings in eleven hours thanks to baby nurofen. (Thanks for that tip btw). Don’t ask me how much sleep I got in that time though.
I just had to duck away to get R from his third fifteen minute nap today. Argh. And after sitting on the bed for a bit he started clapping his hands for the first time. Night’s still a bitch but thank goodness for small miracles in the day.