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:

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?

 

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?  

 

Maternity and resuming a new old life

 

I never intended this blog to be a maternity blog, or even that I would be rambling around about being a mother, or the difficulties that I am going through, but today I am really upset, and so I need to vent some steam somewhere, and so blogging seems the perfect way to do so…!

Today, I shall complaint about bus drivers. At the moment I don’t own any car, and so I use public transports to go everywhere. Firstly, this seem to be the most ecological way of transport (that is besides cycling, which unfortunately I am terrible at, so that’s not an option to me), and secondly, we have pretty good public transports nearby, which do not justify owning a car at all. Lastly, it’s way too costly to own a car around here… Our money is better spent elsewhere, and the benefits aren’t that advantageous.

Before becoming a mother, I never gave a second thought about the way bus drivers acted, or even how they were driving around (even If at times I would stumble around because they were going too fast). But now, when I have to carry my baby around and a pram and baby stuff and working stuff, I am paying much more attention! 

First of all, they drive way too fast at times. On one occasion my pram almost turned over because of a sharp curve and the velocity that the bus was going. The bus driver didn’t even give it a look, or ensured that we were alright.

Furthermore, they never wait until the pram is safely parked before starting to drive after we get in. I really hate that! Several times I almost stumbled over because of it! Does it really take much of the route time waiting a little bit before making sure that the pram is fully parked? Finally, they never lower the bus to make it easier on the pram to get in. It doesn’t take much, it just takes to push a button, but rarely bus drivers do so. I know this should be applied on people in wheelchairs, or with reduced mobility, but couldn't this be extended to prams as well? The issue here is that sometimes the gap between the bus and the pavement is such that is really difficult to get the pram inside the bus but most of the times the bus driver doesn’t care at all.

I could deal with this pretty easily if it was just for a few journeys, but on a daily basis this is starting to take its toll. 

Consider the extra physical effort on carrying all that needs to be carried with a baby, being sleep deprived and then facing a (most of the times) crabby bus driver that is unhelpful and then having to steady yourself, and the pram so that you don’t fall over the bus! This is the beginning of my day. Every day.

And then work. 

And then my work is just pilling up. And my mental clarity of is simply gone… 

But I shall complaint about work some other time. One complaint at the time. For now, rambling over bus drivers is enough….