What a Life!

Sleep when baby sleeps seems to be the advice I hear given to new mothers most often. Granted, rest is important to a new mother, especially during the first couple of weeks. But I must confess, I do not follow that advice.

I find it far more effective to rest when my baby is awake. When babies are asleep, you can put them down. You can take a shower, grab a bite to eat, and maybe start a load of laundry. When they’re awake, they want to be held. They want to be fed, and they need their diaper changed. And then they just want to look into your eyes. They’re interested in memorizing every single aspect of your face. They want to hear your voice. They want to be with you. And they get very upset if you put them down.

Joey is okay if I want to put him down for a moment to change Ben’s diaper or take a bathroom break myself. But other than that, when he’s awake, that’s when I take my breaks. Then when he’s asleep I’m able to get things done, mostly without interruption (I still have a 3-year-old, you know). And I don’t resent a single moment…sitting down, doing nothing but holding my baby. After all, he’ll only be __ days old once. I enjoy those moments and treasure them. Soon enough he’ll be wanting to get down and go explore. He won’t be happy anymore simply being held. These moments will be gone too quickly, so I enjoy them while they last.

But as for what I have gotten done lately…

I am a list-keeper. I have them sorted by contexts, such as errands, home office, around the house, etc. My lists are fairly up-to-date, but they are also longer than normal. Every Sunday I review them and re-write what I didn’t accomplish during the last week on a fresh list for next week. I got a lot done last week, but my lists are still longer than usual. Perhaps that is because we’ve gone through a major life change recently?

My husband has commented more than once after coming home from work that I seem a bit “frazzled. I may have my lists in place, take small bites when it comes to doing things, and so forth, but you cannot change the fact that I am trying to keep track of a toddler, please a newborn, and get a few things done for myself. Perhaps “frazzled” is an understatement.

My greatest accomplishment last week was probably making a quilt. Yes, I know, that sounds ridiculous – I made a quilt. It wasn’t a difficult quilt. The blocks were fairly large and there weren’t many seams to line up. It was a quilt, none the less. I devoted my entire day to working on it Thursday, though I probably only spent a total of four hours or so on it. I pieced the top and then pinned the quilt. Friday, I bought groceries and stopped at the local fabric store and bought yarn to tie my quilt. Saturday morning, I finished basting the edges together and piecing the binding. Then during the football game I did the handsewing of the binding, which is the last step.

So yes, I made a quilt. Why? you ask. Well, if you’ve shopped at all for baby things recently, the current fashion is these really soft, furry baby blankets. This quilt is made out of that type of really soft, plush fabric. And it’s a quilt. My babies don’t have grandma’s who make quilts for them. And for some reason, I’ve grown to have this deep appreciation for handmade quilts. My children deserve to have handmade quilts.

I saw quilts like this at my favorite quilting store before I got pregnant and swore I wanted one for our next child. That, along with a glider to rock my baby in and Kisslauvs cloth diapers for newborns. I found the diapers I wanted used in various places online, and I intend to sell them for about what I spent on them after we’re through using the newborn size. About a week before Joey was born, I went and got a glider, thanks to my parents and sister and brother-in-law who supplied the funds, making that our baby gift from them. And then after Joey was born, I got an email from my favorite quilt store saying they were going out of business (the owner had moved and didn’t want to bother with running it anymore), and the cost of the quilt was finally at a place that I thought I could afford. So I bought the kit, and now I made my quilt. Now I have all of the dream-come-true items on my wishlist for this baby.

Here you can see the glider and the quilt:

I am so blessed!