There's been a whole mess of stuff going on around here lately. Having a newborn certainly puts your life into a whole new level of chaos. It's not necessarily bad, in my humble opinion, but it does require a whole new household strategy (which can become very stressful).Strategy #1: Sleeping 2 hours at a time isn't as fulfilling as an 9-hour stretch, but it's better than nothing.
I'm determined to pace myself better now that I have two kids. Arthur is 3 and already a champion sleeper. Now I need to make sure that Balin doesn't keep him awake. I've started sleeping downstairs for half the night so that I don't disturb Robinson or Arthur's night sleep. I figure if they can get some solid blocks of sleep at night, they'll be more rested and thus more helpful during the day. That's the theory at least and so far it's working for them.
I no longer poo-poo at these short naps. I need them to keep up my energy (and sanity). I've been trying to take naps during the day and going to sleep early at night so that I can get about 6-8 hours a night, even though my sleep is broken up into 2-3 hour increments. Hey, I'll take what I can get now.
Strategy #2: Delegate, delegate, delegate.
I'm a horrible at this because I assume that I can do everything on my own. Most of the time I can, and sometimes I get overwhelmed. After having Balin, I've been trying to pace myself better. It's been hard because I feel as though I can't always rely on other people to do the job right. Housework especially.
A part of it is just being able to let things go, which I am also horrible at. Our kitchen floor hasn't been mopped and the bathroom hasn't been scrubbed down in 3 weeks . I don't think the carpets have been vacuumed in 2 weeks and there's a lot of stuff that needs to be taken to the garage since our incident with the water heater.
On a positive note, I've also discovered a ready helper in Arthur. He's nearly 3 and very mature for his age. He's been taking Balin's presence in stride. He takes messages to Robinson when we're on different levels of the house, helps with some chores, and fetches things for the baby, such as diapers or wipes. He doesn't always do it right, but he tries, and that's what matters.
Strategy #3: Frozen meals are AWESOME.
We've already dug into our frozen meal stash. I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to just throw something into the oven and bake it. There's no preparation and no big mess to clean up. Last week, instead of making a whole new meal, Robinson threw some freezer fried chicken into the oven and made some Cole slaw and mashed potatoes while it was baking. Hardly any mess, no greasy splatter, and the chicken was delicious.
Strategy #4: My post-partum body may not be swimsuit worthy yet, but that doesn't mean I still shouldn't take care of it.
This is a funny statement to me because while I was pregnant, I was consuming large amounts of sweets. I would make cookie dough just to eat it. Now that I am no longer pregnant with Balin, I've lost my appetite for sweets. No joke. I had a cupcake yesterday and I felt so sick afterward. It's a good think Luna bars are low glycemic because those have been my before bedtime snack for the last few days.
I'm hoping this aversion to sweets continues. I've always had poor judgment when it comes to dessert and I'm discovering (yet again) that I like not filling my body with all kinds of sugary garbage. This was also my downfall after my pregnancy with Arthur. Once my weight plateaued because my breast milk production leveled off, I kept eating like I was still making lots of milk...and then gained a lot of weight. It took a lot of exercise and healthy eating to get it off...and then I got pregnant again. I do expect to fit into my jeans again someday, but in the meantime, I'm planning on concentrating on eating well and getting some moderate exercise once I completely heal.
Blessed be.
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