I'm lucky to have a great pediatrician who reminds me that I'm not being lazy, despite my inability to get ALL the housework done. While still riding a roller coaster of emotions, fueled by hormones, and getting little to no sleep I am undoubtedly doing the most important job of my life (for the second time).
I am the protector and comforter to this new little being. I am creating the nourishment he lives by. I am working around the clock to keep him clean, and warm, and dry. My every thought is consumed with figuring out how to be the best parent to this little person that I MADE.
But... the world did not stop just because I made a new little person... dust still accumulated and laundry piled up. Like every new mother it was hard to find the time and energy to take a shower.
These days it's a victory for me that laundry actually makes it from the folding table (aka guest bedroom bed) to its drawer at least twice a month, up from once..or never. Despite her best efforts, my seven-year-old is not the stinky kid, so there's another win. And I'm finally reaching a point where a little over half of the food my family eats does not come from a Nestle or General Mills distribution center. My therapist was shocked when I told her that I've been pushing to get us back to eating on real plates. If my therapist thinks it's too soon, should I really be stressing myself out over it?
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| It's clean, mission accomplished! |
It's important that I remember not to be too hard on myself, and I urge all you new moms out there to remember the same thing. At five and a half months I feel that the baby and I are just starting to develop a routine of sorts. As the days go on we'll continue to develop a schedule of feedings and naps, eventually I'll squeeze in a playdate, and one day, a date night. I'm learning to accept that despite my desire to control everything, I cannot get it all done by myself right now; and it will take time to figure out what works for my growing family.
I absolutely love this post from Modern Parents Messy Kids, it covers age appropriate chores, and how to get kids to do chores for the sake of having a clean space versus earning a new video game. BTW... I believe husbands fall into the 10 and older category, but don't hold me to that <chortle>. I started having Thing 1 help me with chores when I got pregnant, but since her brother arrived she has told us that she feels like nobody pays attention to her. So, where I had planned to have her start doing some chores more befitting a 'Big Sister', we have actually cut back on her responsibilities. There is one 'Big Sister' chore she really enjoys doing though, which I think is great for older siblings... once a week she goes through the house and wipes down all the doorknobs and light switches with a disinfecting wipe. She likes knowing that she is doing something to help protect her little brother, and that just makes me feel warm and tingly.
Finally, I didn't have a support system around me of people offering to help with cleaning, or making us food. I had one friend that brought us a couple of amazing artisan lasagnas, and she invited our daughter over for a sleepover, and I was, and still am SOOOOO grateful to her for that. If you do have people around wanting to help, take them up on it. If a dish shows up with lima beans in alfredo sauce (its happened), it's one less meal you have to worry about, and you husband will have greater appreciation for your cooking.
With all that being said, I feel like today was a pretty productive day for me...
I stripped...my cloth diaper stash....After ruling out thrush as the cause of Thing 2's nasty rash on his lower tummy and thigh, I determined that I needed to strip our stash. I have never stripped diapers before and my initial search kept giving me sites that gave stripping instructions for top loaders. I finally came across a post from Mama Natural about how to strip your cloth diapers in a front loader.
One of the keys to the stripping process is using disinfecting bleach, but guess what.... Bleach scares the bejeezus out of me. Plus, I wasn't sure about putting such a caustic substance on something that would be in contact with really sensitive areas. However, I love Genevieve, so if she advocated using bleach then so be it... and in the post she pointed out that bleach is recommended by one of the biggest CD manufacturers, and that the diapers go through SOOO MANY rinses that no bleach remain on the diapers. So we're in the last hour of a six hour process, those diapers smell great, and hopefully this will help my little man recover a bit.
I made dinner... My family LOVES my crockpot lasagna, and it makes plenty of leftovers for lunches, which I think is bonus since it's at least one less peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I have to make.
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| School and work lunches, for the rest of the week! |
Finally... so, yeah I'm saying that I only did 3 things and I count that as a productive day...anyways....
I made my Milk Makin' Lactation Cookies
...but you'll have to wait 'till tomorrow for the recipe.
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