Sunday, March 26, 2006

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.

1 comment:

Finn said...

Good Morning Lily, I'm sending big "used mommy" hugs to you as a fairly new mommy. Yup, you've been given really good advice from friends and mum, to help balance the feelings that you recently have.
At times, mothering feels like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon...but luckily it's balanced by the beauty of a child in a loving home..*VBS* In the end, what matters most isn't the clean, neat everything...but the connection you have to the life you created and the person you created her with...Hugs, Finn