My "day off" yesterday completely rejuvenated me. As M looked after Little Planet for the day, I popped into town to see the fabulously sassy and emotive Sex And The City movie in Leicester Square. It was like hooking up with old friends and I cried and laughed and cried again as the characters went through their individual dramas. I love the clothes and I hope I look that good when I am in my 40s. At the end of the movie the cinema hall - packed almost exclusively with women - applauded. When I walked out into the sunshine, I walked with a spring in my step. Like the SATC girls I felt happy at my own life's progression too - from single girl about town to wife about town to mother and now mother about town! My expanded, evolving identity feels damn good.
Having shunned most Japanese food throughout my pregnancy due to nausea, I craved sushi so I ducked into Wasabi for my first sushi fix in nine months. From the Algerian Coffee House in Soho I bought Monsoon Malabar beans; from Lina Stores also in Soho I bought spaghetti; from Minamoto Kitchoan on Piccadilly I bought delicate Japanese sweets made from peaches and biwa; from Zavvi I bought season 2 of the Gilmore Girls on DVD and the weighty yet ethereal album Sunday At Devil Dirt by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan; from DKNY on Bond Street I bought a grey tunic dress and from Nicole Farhi next door I bought a midnight blue blouse; and finally from the John Lewis flower concession I bought a couple of potted succulents and a white orchid for our living room and kitchen.
When I returned home at 8pm, I kissed my sleeping little girl's head and caught up with M. He told me she had had another unsettled day but it sounded a bit better than Friday. He'd managed to clean the house, do laundry, do some gardening, play with Little Planet and cook a roast chicken with roasted sweet potatoes and baba ghanoush for our dinner. All in between trying to feed, change, burp, wind and settle her.
Today I am home alone with Little Planet as M has to work but it's been a much better day. I have been calmer due to yesterday's outing and she's been much more settled. The two things - my calmness and her settledness - must be related, but then again not necessarily. Babies are not predictable. I've managed to go for a walk to the park with her with little incident as well as spent an hour or so playing with her. At 3 weeks, she is spending a little more time each day awake, which makes it so fun because then we can play.
Today's better day warrants another "Typical Day" post, which I will type up in the next day or so as these Typical Day posts prove that when it comes to babies there are no "typical" days!
4 comments:
I am so pleased that you were able to have and enjoy a well deserved break. Your husband sounds like an absolute star.
Quite a few friends of mine have had babies recently, and they have all said that the first 6 weeks are the hardest, but then it begins to click into place and it is easier to keep to an established routine. S xx
Now I know how much my mum had to go through, she never did talk about it or maybe I was a really easy baby...
It's nice to know that you had a rejuvenating day.
Wow, your day off sounds so wonderful. I want to watch 'Sex & the City' too :(, maybe some day soon. You are right, there are so typical days with babies. Only the first 2 weeks or so were a bit routine but since then each day with Aashna has been different.
I do have a great husband, though don't tell him that :-) He loves spending time with Little Planet, especially as he works so much so him giving me the "day off" wasn't hard and he'll jump at doing that regularly for me on Saturdays. Sunday (if he's not working) can then be our quality family time (and Saturday evenings). I'm not a "natural" mother in that I find alot of looking after a baby too routine, so the break in routine is necessary for my sanity. Just trying to be honest.
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