Somehow this place slipped my mind, as focused as I was to enter this blogging world, I let it slip. Since my last post mummaMe ended up with an extra day working and therefore an extra day lost at home.
When my boss posed the question about taking on an extra day the decision to do it was far from easy. A 3 day working mum still has the home balance down pat with the 4 days of. Her priorities are right, her family has most of her time. But a 4 day working mum, jeez what is that woman? Agonise, agonise, agonise. I felt like I picked work over my daughter. It turns out I didn't. It turns out my girl manages just fine and I manage fine and life has a balance.
I was told by countless people when I had my daughter to cherish every minute, hold on tight because it sure goes fast. God they were right! What happened to all those days that turned in to weeks that delivered those months and years. I now have a 2.5 year old, with attitude, that can count in twos and is learning the alphabet and has a stubborn streak that rivals mine and her sweetheart fathers.
I was laying in bed at 9:09 tonight, reading my favourite blogs and catching up on the news of the day, when I remembered this place and I wanted to come back and share again. So I stole the hubbies lap top perched myself on the couch in front of the fire and here I am. It's nice, and my mind is running with ideas for future posts. I don't mind if no one sees this, I don't particularly want the google adds, I want cheap therapy and I want to be down in words again, the only therapy hobby I have is writing.
As fast as time goes sometimes, it is nice to have some on your own, especially in the bathroom !
Time to put my ideas cap back on !
I was a big pain in the arse today. I had a coffee date with a girlfriend at a 'cool' little cafe near the city. I parked my car pulled the strider from the boot and off princess and I went.
I get to the door of the cafe and fitted through (yes....first mission accomplished) then that was it, stuck dead in our tracks or wheels I guess you could say. A table near the door with 3 women happily chatting away was completely oblivious to my width and wheels. I lent down and with my best manners asked the woman if she could possibly move her seat for a moment so we could get through, she did, but with the most sour look on her face, anyone would have thought I was after the chocolate cake she was scoffing down.
I don't mean to be annoying and I admit pram women used to annoy me too, for this reason I always try to stay out of peoples way or take the long way around so I don't run anyone down.
It does make me wonder how people in wheel chairs manage to get a coffee though, if my wheels wont fit through then how the hell do they manage? Business' aren't prepared for people with wheels are they?
Anyway cake woman was just as pleased 5 minutes later when my girlfriend arrived with her baby in his pram too.
Latte was great in the back corner though.
ttfn
A morning person I sincerely am not. Ask my beautiful mother. The absolute minimum amount of sleep I could survive on would have to have been about 10 hours in my pre-baby days. What a lazy cow I was.
Somewhere between the late nights and all that sleep I grew up. I got pregnant and my sleep was completely thrown out the window. My dear boss (lets call him Poppy) told me all these night time wake ups (due to my 5 year old child like bladder) was mother nature preparing me for what was ahead. Ahead Poppy...... I knew what was coming, a tiny perfect child who would be sleeping though the night for 8 hours at a time, at 2 days old...........HA HA. Nope ! My daughter was until 11 months old, a very dysfunctional sleeper. She at her worst was waking every 30 minutes though the night. The only way for me to sleep in the end was to have her in our bed, in fact it got that bad I called in the big guns to sort her out, a sleep consultant. We call her the baby whisper in this house, sometimes I refer to her as the baby god ... my saviour. Anyway long story short princess started sleeping though at 11 months old. Bliss I thought, yes early nights for me. 4 months on I am lucky to be asleep before midnight.
It takes time to settle down, I need to have a few cups of early grey, talk to my sweet heart about his day, about our plans and fold the damn washing.
Running on bare minimum sleep was not something I would have thought you could adjust to so quickly. Yes yes I expected it for a bit, I am not a complete fool, but these days I have a new respect for how much sleep you actually need to function. I also believe these days that coffee and a kinder bueno can constitute as breakfast. Tired before baby isn't what tired is to me these days, pre baby tired is a walk in the park, it's nothing, actually its just the new normal it is how us new parents feel day in day out. You get used to the fuzzy brain and the itchy eyes after a few months at it.
I've been told to suck it up and get used to it, I treat a wake up past 6:15am as a sleep in. Thankfully some god above created the coffee bean, now to just have it available via IV drip please.
TTFN
Emma
Here we go, today I decided that I wanted to joing the blogging world, have been thinking of it for a wile so decided to jump it.
I am me, Emma. Married to my sweet heart for the past two years, although we have been together for the best part of a decade. Together we have our princess, the absolute light of our lives.
I went back to work January after 13 months of maternity leave. I know I know I am lucky to have had that long, but geeze what a head spin it put me in, the thought of leaving princess for long stretches and getting her back at the witching hour. But it has began we have started, life, real life really has began. Before I knew it the high heels were back on and I was chasing a toddler to get dressed and eat her vegimite toast, sloshing my coffee through the house and watching the clock.
We are fortunate to have fab grandparents on both sides, 2 days a week princess is with the grandparents and for the other day she is at a child care centre (we call it school around here). The first ever full 'school' drop off went fine, no tears from baby, a s**t load from me all the way to work. From then on (for the past 2 months) every drop off has been met with these tears. I did bust her today. Drop off time, peeled her off my hip passed her over to her lovely carer, the lip dropped (she has her father's lip) the tears began, my heart sank so off I went to the door. By the time I got to the next room to leave her Elmo bag in her little spot I could no longer here my DD crying. Turns out she really is a girl...she can manipulate !!!
I do question my decision to return to work. The mum guilt does kick in, but I do enjoy our office. I work with a very very amusing bunch of people and they are my friends. I do have to admit that having a hot coffee and not changing someones bum (in the physical sense...I work at a law firm) is a nice little break. I have wondered whether this enjoying a break makes me a bad mum, or simply just a woman who makes the best of what she has.
The reason we work is to have the luxuries, everything I do I do it for my family. Trust me if I won lotto I'd be leaving the office behind (in my sportscar at top speed), until then this is where I stand like a lot of other parents, juggling marriage, baby, work, home and a british bulldog.
I like the thought of being a part of this world, the blogging world, learning more from people and swapping over stories.
So let the blogging begin.
Until next time.
Emma
