Polishing My Game

Home Alone Day 2. Another crazy day. Julien, as I've mentioned before, is a terribly noisy baby, especially when he is on the verge of falling asleep or when waking up. He goes on and on, making gravelly noises, as though he has lots of opinions. It used to amuse Henry, who was prompted to say that Julien might be a lawyer some day. But these days, it just elicits angry commands of "Keep Quiet! Keep Quiet!" from a very upset and sleep deprived Daddy Low... Not that Julien understands anyway...

So, today, we were booted out of the bedroom because of Julien's spectacular oratorical skills. I carried Julien to the next room and fed him and changed his nappy, by the end of which, I was totally awake. And I started to realize that's how this mummy is gonna learn to wake up early. So, I decided to get on with the chores. More laundry to be done, while washed ones go on the line, and dried ones go on the ironing board. And before you know it, it was time for lunch. And time for another feed. And another diaper change.

I tried to take my longer shower today before Daddy Low left for work, but somehow did not make it. So after one of Julien's feeds, when he tends to feel drowsy, I took a chance and played the nursery rhymes on the baby monitor before running into the shower. Above the repetitive notes of the rhymes and the din of the water, I heard Julien slowly work himself into a crying fit. (He is actually quite a gentleman of a baby really - he tends to make little warning noises first before bawling outright.) In the past, I would have rushed to his side and picked him up within 2 minutes, but because of the other noises that muted his crying, because I was determined to wash my hair, because I had soapy shampoo all over my head, I stayed away and went on with my shower. Of course, it was not easy; with each louder and longer cry, I felt increasingly like a bad mother. But I was at least assured that there was no loose cloth or toys around him that could cause him to smother and he was secured in his crib without any chance of tumbling down. So, I went on with my shower, albeit with a bit of a guilty conscience. When I checked on Julien after the shower, I was amazed and pleasantly surprised that he has self-soothed himself to sleep! It was great! And the lesson learnt today? - a little crying does no harm. In fact, it probably does a world of good - Baby will have to learn that he can't summon me at will with a show of tantrum!

Next, I put up the cleaned sheets in the guest bedroom and changed our own bedsheets. I personally hate this chore, because of the struggle I always have with the duvet cover in trying to get it into place. And deep down, I knew that, during that window of opportunity, when Julien was sound asleep, I should be cooking dinner. But I was determined to get our bedsheets changed today, since I have been talking about it for days now. These sheets are actually quite new; they have not been long on our bed, but Julien has already made it his own with some burped milk and pee... So a change is in order! And into the washing machine the dirty sheets went and a very proud mummy I was when I looked at the new bedsheets in place on our bed.

I skipped down to the kitchen and proceeded to prepare the food as quickly as I could. I got as far as marinating the meat and cutting the vegetables before Julien was up and needed to be fed again. So, I staved off hunger with a glass of milk while feeding him. And went back to cooking while watching snatches of telly. When dinner was done and eaten, I sat there, concussed, just letting programme after programme wash over me, while waiting for the next feed. This time was a supplement formula feed and I am pleased to say that I was better prepared, having already boiled water and stored it in a thermos flask. The feeding went alright and I got to watch my telly and de-stress for the day.

Tomorrow, I have my eye on getting the toilets washed and cooking more food to store in the freezer. And maybe, I may still get some extra time to blog properly and even post some photos! Hopefully, I get better with my strategies and tomorrow brings more new lessons of managing a routine with baby in tow. To tomorrow's challenge, cheers! :)