Motherhood, in the early years, involves mainly of trying not to get baby spew in your hair and all over your clothes, whilst soothing a colicky/gassy/bored/hurting/hungry/tired/overall cranky baby by carrying him/her on one hip/seating him/her on one leg and holding him/her with one arm whilst you attempt to do whatever needs to be done with the other hand. All on very low levels of energy following sleepless nights.
Come sunshine or rain, health, sickness, pain - you name it - that is what the daily routine consists of for the vast majority of the time whilst Baby is awake.
There are awesome moments when Baby is in a good mood - you then get to hear gurgles, cooing, giggles, and you can enjoy playtimes.
Needless to say the ongoing threat of baby spew, amongst other things, can affect a New Mum's self confidence and her self esteem. This tends to drive a lot of New Mums into a so-called self imposed Dry Spell. Combine the changes in one's body with being over tired and always smelling of spoilt milk and acid - et voila!
Which is why, in my humble opinion, there is nothing sexier than a Man covered in baby spew.
Does it make sense? Undoubtedly, other mothers will understand where I'm coming from - especially those whose man refrains from holding a crying baby or from changing nappies out of fear of "breaking Baby" or some silly excuse along those lines.
This morning involves gutting out the house from top to bottom, in preparation of Creature's arrival. It also is the official start of my Maternity leave - meaning that if I had more energy and less aches, I could technically come out of my house-arrest-cum-hermit's-cave.
Haha. I said cum. Lol.
Anyway.
To get back on track, right now my Mum and my grandmother's Cleaning Lady are over at my place helping me out as I supervise and try to do as much as I possibly can. I hate being idle. I'm not used to having people waiting on me. For me, yes. On me, no.
Gutting out the Roscave means unexpected discoveries are made - such as the extremely pleasant find of a long lost and forgotten, brand new, unpopped Bubble Wrap. Needless to say, cleaning is underway to the sounds of "Pop! Pop! Popopopopop!"
I got an update re: Childcare. One of the places I contacted got back to me, and their rates seem rather affordable. Now, I wait to hear from a couple more Centres before I arrange for an appointment to physically go investigate them. What seems affordable at first might not be affordable when the whole Financial Picture is clear.
Don't commit yourself to "employing" anyone straight away. Sit down and make a list of of your income and expenditure. If there is one thing I've learnt from working for so long in a Call Centre, it's this: Too many people live in constant debt, spending money they do not own and placing themselves in financial hell. Take into consideration all of your expenses and always round up to the closest 10 at the very least. This will mean that the chances of being skint will be remote. Also, never spend the full amount you'd have set aside for whatever it is you'd have planned in advance for if possible. This will help you out should you have an Emergency Situation, be it now or in 10 months' time. It will also make it possible to get yourself or Baby a treat every so often.
Oh, and just before I leave you to your Monday Morning Blues, I'd like to answer that arose on Facebook.
"Why Hugh?"
Hugh is my loyal Dell Laptop. It was a gift to myself purchased after a break up a couple of years ago [or has it been longer than that now? I'm not sure]. I was accompanied by my soon-to-be sister-in-law Mel, who remarked "That is one sexy laptop. What shall you call him?" I nodded in agreement, glanced at the laptop and went "Hugh. After Hugh Jackman - 'cause they're both sexy mofos!"
