3 April 2007
Phew. I think one of the reasons I’ve started to think about going back to work is so that I take part in an activity which doesn’t have to be repeated in another three hours – looking after a newborn you do the same things over and over in such quick succession – nappy, feed, wind, nap, washing, nappy – I have to make an effort to do some things differently or I wind up having no idea what time of day or night it is!
My thanks to everyone who’s knocked at the door or called up and jogged me out of my stupor, in fact to everyone who’s helped me out this month, I couldn’t have done it without you, and I mean that most sincerely!
The worst days have been those rainy ones before the clocks went forward – stuck at home with ds1 (literally) smothering the baby with frantic kisses, trying to smile and look nonchalant about it when really I was a pip away from screaming ‘TOOOO ROUGGGGGGGGHHHH, STOPPIT!’…. Much counting to ten... Paranoia was only made worse by horror stories from other mums: one who walked in on her older son standing in front of the new baby wielding a pair of scissors (gulp, deep breath, serious hostage negotiation tactics required) another who turned around just in time to see her four year old daughter inserting a tiny pea into the baby’s ear at dinner time. Of course she sucked it out, what would you have done?
Things are sweet now that it’s sunny and the days are longer. We’re planning an egg hunt and I’m wondering if the four year olds are up for a three legged egg and spoon race (if they’re not, I am!). No, don’t be silly, I mean with plastic eggs. I’ve been trying to keep doing fun things with ds1, especially as daddy hasn’t been around for a few weeks, but I know my fun rating has taken a nosedive since the baby arrived… I’ll be back though, don’t worry about that!
In fact, ds1’s had a pretty terrific time, with people coming to take him on trips to the aquarium, the London Eye, for pancakes and sleepovers. This baby malarkey must seem like a bit of a social whirl for him, and I fall asleep on the spot within seconds of him leaving the house. That’s the big difference between kid numbers one and two – no more delicious daytime naps with the baby! I’ve invested in a very good anti-puff eye cream instead, seems to be working just fine for now.
I'm longing for a white Russian, but I guess I can’t swing it till I start expressing… boy oh boy, is it going to taste good!