Adjusting

Before I had Clare, people kept telling me to get used to the fact that after her arrival my house would never be as clean as I like it anymore, I would never be on time for anything, I'd accomplish about 0.75 things (if I'm lucky) on my "to-do" list for the day, and would start thinking that sleeping 3 hours all in one stretch is almost a full night of sleep. To be honest, I didn't believe them.

I couldn't imagine that one little person could impact my daily schedule (other than the sleeping thing -- I was prepared for that) all that much. One friend jokingly told me of how she adjusted to life with a baby: she'd choose one thing she wanted to get done that day, eg: cleaning the bathroom. She'd go about her day trying to get it done...The next day her goal would be to finish cleaning the bathroom and to start something else. I laughed, thinking that for some reason I was going to be immune to this chaos.

So here I find myself, 3 weeks after Clare's birth -- house not as clean as I want it; calling people saying, "We're going to be a little delayed..."; starting a bunch of different chores that I get 1/2 way done; and thinking that 3 hours of sleep all in one stretch is a treat.

Don't get me wrong; I LOVE being a mom. Clare and I are starting to get adjusted to life with each other here while Tom is at work. I outsmarted her yesterday, and was actually able to accomplish some much-needed organizing in the office that I had been wanting to get to forever (I was in the middle of it when my water broke 3 weeks ago). She loves being held -- as I'm sure most new babies do -- and has been insisting on being walked around lately. So, in order to hold her and walk around and have the use of my hands, I put her in her Baby Bjorn carrier. Voila! Baby asleep in no time at all. What a marvelous invention! Gotta hand it to those Swedes. For the first time in 3 weeks, I actually did something with my hair that did not include throwing it in a pony tail! She slept through the 25 minutes it takes me to straighten my hair and make it look like someone cares about it; it was great. *Note to all our pregnant friends: I highly recommend the Baby Bjorn. It's comfortable, too. Wandering around with her practically all day strapped to my chest didn't hurt my back in the slightest. And since she either sleeps or is happy to just look around while I'm roaming the house, I'm assuming she's comfortable too.

So, since she is now happily asleep in her Baby Bjorn as I type this, I'm going to take advantage and attempt to accomplish one thing today. :) God bless you!