Retail therapy

I've been feeling a little down over the past few days. I was worried for a day or two that I might be suffering some mild post-natal depression, but after talking about it with my mothers' group and my darling husband I came to the conclusion that I was just coming face to face with the reality of being a full-time mum.

This realisation was a shock to me, as until now I have been floating on a cloud of mummy bliss. I think it's just the relentless nature of domestic duties. I think I had in my mind's eye images of me holding my baby, sitting on our balcony and enjoying the fruits of my labour. Of course I now realise that's a bit laughable - it's not like in the movies - motherhood is bloody hard work. So is keeping the house clean. I don't think I really appreciated how much of the housework my husband did when we were splitting our domestic duties 50-50.

After receiving some wise counsel from my friends, I am working on letting go of the inner need to have a spotless house. It's just not realistic when you have a baby in the house! My friends who have been through this before me tell me that they too struggled around the 8-month mark. The babies, while cute as buttons, are so demanding at this age, and not a little difficult what with teething, learning to eat solid foods and not being able to move as they would like.

Now I understand why mother nature made babies so damned cute - so you could remember this when they were driving you mad!!

And Romily is pretty gorgeous at the moment. Despite being a little grizzly and clingy at the moment, she is a happy camper (when she gets enough sleep) and I find myself laughing many times throughout the day at her antics.