Today I feel like Super Mom. It probably has to do with Lily and I getting FIVE uninterrupted hours of sleep last night. Unfortunately, these hours were not spent in her crib (we have yet to transition her to there yet - she's so teeny, I'm not ready!) They were spent in bed, with me, sleeping in her boppy - and yes, I have seen the huge tag that says "SLEEP" with a big ole slash through it, but she sleeps so well in it and she really doesn't wiggle down to the point of it being dangerous. Anyways, so we kicked Daddy out of the bed and slept for five hours straight. It was weird and amazing.
So I had the energy to get some things done today! I did 4 loads of laundry - washed, dried, folded and put away. I made a healthy lasagna (click for recipe!), cleaned up after cooking, changed the sheets (Lily had spit up on the sheets last night) and all of this was done while watching Lily, nursing, soothing, playing etc. So I think I deserve to feel like Super Mom today.
Which leads me into On Demand Mommies. I guess all Mommies are On Demand but it's slightly different when you are nursing. You have to plan things in 2 hour increments or else have a back up feeding plan (pumped BM or formula - yuck!) There was a thread the other day on a forum I frequent (babycenter.com) about how working is so much better than staying home. It was about how women on maternity leave were so happy to be able to go back to work because they couldn't handle staying at home. I was excited to read this. By no means is being a stay at home mom easy for me, but I feel like it's something I can excel at, something I can be great at. I never really felt that kind of pride when I worked. And if I did it was short lived. It made me proud that I was one of the few that could do it, and do it well (most days!)
But the one down side of being a stay at home mom is that we're always ON. There is no weekends, breaks, vacations, or 8-5 hours. Nope. We are always on call, always there 24-7 no matter what. I feel useless if I do nothing during the day but take care of Lily, but some days that's all I can do because I've been up all night with her. And then I feel like I'm slacking - when really I shouldn't. Not many people can do what SAHM's can do and I really am proud to say that I think I can stick with it and do it.
One more thing about being on demand that I just realized this past weekend? It's pretty easy to adjust your life to being on your child's schedule. To always being in tuned to their needs and putting yours second. But it's harder to juggle everyone else's needs and time into the mix. If I could just center my focus only on Lily, we would be doing wonderful. But that's not how life rolls. I gotta have time for the husband, my mom, my friends etc. So when I throw those into the mix I find that I get quite overwhelmed. Maybe because I need to take a little at a time. For example, Justin is coming by to hang out tomorrow and then I will go to see Jill and her boy, Jacob, Thursday. I made it a point not to schedule more than one person a day because then I will be overwhelmed (like I will be Saturday with THREE birthday parties! yikes.) But that's life. And I can take doing 4 out of 7 days of just me and Lily. Those are the days that I cherish. I actually enjoy being on her schedule!
Hm. This turned into more of a "Go Me" entry than I meant it to be. Oh well, we all need one of those sometimes!
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