Baby and me: A tale of how a new mum takes a shower!

I am not sure how the rest of you mothers out there deal with shower time, but at our home... It’s a story of joy, sadness, stress, heartbreak, betrayal and redemption…! Who would guess that a simple task as showering would create such drama?

Let’s describe it fully…:

Mummy picks baby up for ‘fun time’ around the house preparing the bath, choosing both baby’s and mummy’s outfits…baby goes ‘yeahhh!! Joy time! Time on Mummy’s lap! Yeahh! Seeing the wardrobe! So many colours and textures!’ Baby giggles and jumps on mummy’s lap while having fun trying to grab mummy’s scarves! So far so good, baby is happy seeing new things and mummy has time to select the outfits. So that takes care of the first step…The happy step.

Second step, going for bath …and that’s when the drama begins…! Baby thinks,’ what is this place (the bathroom), so boring and small, there’s no fun to be seen here!’ Baby is suspicious; I believe he senses what comes next. Mummy places all the things necessary for the bath and then places baby safely in the cot surrounded by toys… and that’s when the sadness and heartbreak begins! ‘Nooooo!’ Baby goes, ‘mummy what are you doing living me here (in the cot) when that weird sound is around (meaning the ventilation is on)...?No I don't like these (the toys), not without you!'

And then… The never ending crying begins! ‘No mummy no, how can you leave me alone, all by myself? Don’t leave me!’ . Mummy how dare you betray me in such way?

This is the sadness part for baby (meaning never ending cry while mummy is not yet to be seen…) and simultaneously stress time for mummy…. Having a bath while hearing baby’s cries! Try that, turn water on, washing yourself, your hair, apply conditioning (do I dare go for the conditioner,... oh just leave it! Apply it some other time!) in the shortest time possible while feeling the pressure of your baby! Because babies have an uncanny way of layering pressure on you like no one else!

And now a piece of information that nobody ever mentioned to me …There’s no more relaxing shower for mummy, that is a luxury long gone that I am not sure when I will get back (will I ever get it back?). And why mothers have bad hair days so many times? Try to take care of your hair properly with a baby at home. I dare you.  I     d  a  r  e      you.

Finally, mummy is ready (?) and picks baby up. Heart-breaking time! Just to see my baby  with tears running his little face, looking so confused, and lost, all by himself in his cot (even with toys around, those mean nothing to him, if mummy is not around playing too!)... My heart just shrinks, and breaks into little pieces! How could I do this, shower and leave him by himself in his cot crying? Oh showering, what a shameful thing to do these days….!

Redemption time! Baby sees mummy and waves his little arms! ‘Mummy finally, you are here! How dare you leave me here by myself!’ 

Baby sighs in profound relief while the crying subsides…Mummy is also relieved. Baby is finally contempt and happy again!

Never ever I would imagine that a simple task like taking a shower would be so dramatic! And I didn´t even told the story when I was having a shower,baby was crying and... the postman rings the door to deliver a package!! Talk about  opportunity!

What about you? How do you manage to shower with a baby around?

 

I am linking up:

My baptism outfit....

After searching intensively... Trying so many dresses, I finally have a dress to wear for baby´s baptism! I have to say, it was really hard coming by a dress that would fit properly...  And  that wouldn’t make me feel that I still have a huge mummy’s tummy!

There was other factor to consider, besides the perfect fitting... I didn’t want (couldn’t really) buy other occasion shoes, or scarves or cardigans to go with the dress, so besides having to fit properly, it would have to go with other pieces of clothes that I already own (and still fit!). 

 

When searching for a dress a typical question was what to mother´s wear to their babies baptism? I found difficult to get a guide as most websites only consider the outfit that a guest should wear and not the mother. I did found this article that mentioned a rule, whatever is suitable to a mother of the bride to wear to a wedding should be suitable to the christening ceremony. Besides this, I went with my common sense... It should be an occasion outfit but much simpler than one that you would wear to a wedding, a good thing is that there are no forbidden colours (well, I would avoid white anyway).  I also found some trends for last season, as monochrome and florals. 

And here is my selected outfit:

I found this dress at Monsoon, and this little beauty is really flattering. My existing tummy is pretty well camouflaged! The shrug I already owned, I got it almost two years ago on sale at Anthropology. The shoes, I already owned as well, I bought this pair at last year at Kurt Geiger`s sale season to wear to a wedding.

Any thoughts about this outfit?

 

Baby and me!

I never intended this blog to be a maternity one, or even considered to mention that I had a little one, but with time, as being a mother is such a huge part of me, it would be impossible not to mention parts of my maternity experience in my blog.

I am writing this after reading this blog post from a Cup of Jo. While I was reading it, I could immediately relate with parts of what she wrote. My heart melts when I see my son, I instantly have a smile when he enters the room, and I literally feel that my heart is walking outside my body! I never ever thought that I would feel this way when becoming a mother. I was really worrying while pregnant about not bonding with my baby once he was here. It was one of my main concerns, but as he was born, and I saw him for the first time, my heart at the time just flooded. I could only exclaim at the time “Oh my god!”. It was exactly love at first sight and one with such intensity I never experienced before.  And it just keeps growing every single day, every single time I lay my eyes on him! 

But not all in my motherhood experience is just good and lovely things. I do complaint (a lot!) for my sleepless nights, for the exhaustion I feel at times... However, when he is peacefully sleeping on my lap and I am cuddling him, all that simply vanishes... And I am re-flooded with love. I suppose it should be this way, otherwise I am not sure how all mothers would cope with such exhaustion. Love replenishes our energy levels to handler another day!

I also relate now with some expressions and reactions from my mother with my brother and I... It was motherly love! I remember that sometimes when my mother was clinging or something, I would go...”Mom, not now...!” Now I get these needs... Of just kissing, hugging or cuddling my baby!

I realized as well that I am extremely jealous of him... When I drop him at the nursery before my days work, and he waves his little arms for his key workers, I feel that those little arms should only ask for my cuddles, and my lap...But that also relaxes me, as I feel that he is being cared and loved there. I was extremely anxious before his first day at the nursery... and his first day wasn’t a good one, as I had to return and pick him up, because he just wouldn´t stop crying for his mummy. But now he is well adjusted and he has lots of fun at the nursery. I am the one who is still adjusting! I still ache when I drop him there every single weekday... At the same time, and this feels contradictory, I do need this hours away from him. I need to feel myself again, because ever since becoming a mother, I feel that every single second of my life it´s for him, for his wants and needs. I guess that’s also part of being a mother...

In time I will have to learn to balance being a mother and just being me... 

But for now, I will just enjoy this moments with my baby!

 

 “My mother’s love is the size of the world! Or more!”

What about you, how do you feel as a mother?

 

DIY tutorial: Kitchen clock wall-art "it´s always time for coffee"

Today I am sharing a pet project of mine that I have been working on for some time now. I was able to finish it today... 

It is a kitchen clock wall-art! 

The colours in this picture are not quite the real ones....

It is not the easiest wall-art to make, but hopefully in the end it will be really pretty!

And what I used for this project:

And here´s how I made it:

Firstly I draw the coffee cups that I was going to paint, I draft it several times until I got a drawing that I was happy with, and only then I draw it onto the canvas. I painted first the canvas background. Afterwards I painted the cups. I Wrote the text “It´s always time for coffee”onto the canvas and then I painted it (can you tell that I absolutely love coffee?). I let the paint dry for a couple of hours. Finally it is time to attach the clock mechanism. I bought mine on amazon.

 And then its done! Be happy that now it’s done and enjoy a cup of coffee!

 

Planing for a Baptism!

I am facing an unusual amount of stress lately (besides my PhD, being a new mum, returning to my research and caring for my demanding little one), and why is that?

Because we (my other half and myself) decided to baptize our little one in less than three weeks. Oh yes, you read it correctly, we have less than three weeks time to prepare the Baptism ceremony!

So, we have virtually no time at all to find a space, caterer, a baptism outfit, and all that is necessary for this celebration... Yes, that is true, I am aware that basically all that is truly necessary is to attend the mass, the celebration itself and be there with your little one and the godparents.... But this is such an important celebration that I really wish my family and my close friends to be there, and that means... me and around 50 or more other people! So, as you can imagine I am facing an almost impossible task ahead! 

But so far so good. Luckily I have some really supportive people behind me, my other half, my parents and in-laws, who are being truly amazing, really supportive with all these preparations. And we are lucky, at least one space and caterer are available in so short-notice time frame. Unfortunately the one space that we really want is a no show so far. We are still waiting for a reply!

As I was getting some inspiration from around the web, I found several inspirational blogs, about party planning and party decorations. As my other half would say, I really like to complicate things, meaning that I would really like a pretty celebration for my baby boy. I already managed to create the invitation (and all the invitations were already sent by mail). So I am going with a blue and white themed party. I won’t be able to have a gorgeous celebration with amazing decorations as I am seeing around the web, but at least I will try to have a coherent look whenever possible. These ideas will only be finalized once I have the space and caterer settled....

And here is what I am picturing for the day:

How about you? Did you ever had to plan a celebration in such a short amount of time?