These are not my ideal days. There are so many things that I want to do and so many things that need getting done. Some are just basic stuff like housecleaning (which our house sorely needs right now after the many weeks I have been recovering and not cleaning). Other things are little adventures I want to take with Alchemy or just things I want to do for fun to make me happy. The problem is balancing getting any of them done with the basic daily care of a newborn baby. So, to try and combat this problem, I am doing what I do best- making lists. Lists of small household tasks, lists of things we need to buy when we find the extra money, lists of things I want to do tomorrow, next week, one day in the future. When I get them done, I will share some of what I want to do here.
Today didn't have a list, but I took it on the best I could. Got us down the stairs as fast as possible so we didn't get trapped upstairs and had a good cup of tea as we started the morning. Finished our grocery list and we were out the door headed for the Co-op to shop. Shopping is one of my favorite things to do with Alchemy. I wear her in my Moby wrap and she falls right to sleep against me as we shop. One day I am hoping she will stay awake for the experience so I can show her things in the store, although her sleeping didn't stop me from rubbing her back and talking to her as we walked along. Hopefully she heard some of what I was saying. Folks at the Co-op always love her and were very helpful getting us to the car and loaded up today so I could get her in her seat and air conditioned.
Came home and fed us both, feeling accomplished that I got one shopping task done. If I had put it on a list, I would have taken pleasure in crossing it off.
Alchemy having her bottle of mom juice for lunch!
Next up, laundry- before I decided I was too tired to do it. Lots of juggling of laundry loads with Alchemy care and kitchen cleaning. I managed to time my loads of laundry to use one dryer time for both loads, saving us a buck in quarters! Ahhh.. the little things that make me happy. Decided in the midst of it all that I wanted more chocolate chip cookies since the ones I made last week were amazing. Seriously, they are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. I found them here on Smitten Kitchen:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/crispy-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/
(Elana, if you are reading this, THESE are the perfect cookie.)
The recipe says you can flash freeze some of the dough for later use. I had never done that before, so I looked it up last week and gave it a try- keeping 15 beautiful balls of cookie dough frozen for a day like today when I wanted a fast batch of cookies again.
Popped them onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and Wa-La! Speaking of parchment paper- where the hell has this stuff been all my life!? I just finally bought some after Grant kept saying we should get it because he likes using it to bake and cook. Tried it out and absolutely love it. Perfect baking and easy clean up.
15 minutes later, I ended up with the perfect cookies.
I had been trying to entertain Alchemy with her swing while I hustled around baking and folding laundry, and while she was okay with it for a short while, eventually she decided she had had it.
Ahhhh my little adorable fussy monkey. She is very good at pathetically being adorable and letting us know just when she is unhappy with whatever is going on. That is a definite unhappy with the world face. Yesterday she started developing tears, and although they haven't fallen down her face yet, I know its only a matter of time before we see big alligator tears when she cries and then we are done for. Grant says she is developing an even better arsenal against us. She is also starting to smile, but she must be reserving those for everyone but me since she has yet to give me one. All I ever get is crying. *Sigh* I try not to take it personally, as I am sure one day she will express love and smiles my way rather than just cries and screams.
Grant came home for an hour between campuses to eat dinner with us quickly. We barely had a chance to visit over some quick eats before he was out the door again. Ahh Tuesdays. They are my long day where it's just Alchemy and I until late evening. I still have to head up and put away all the laundry I folded and settle in to wind Alchemy down for the night. There will be more feeding and pumping, but also hopefully some relaxation time after a busy day.
After today comes tomorrow.. who knows what adventures we will get into then.
3 comments:
oh I so relate with you. feels good to even visit with you on FB...:)
Asmi on top of this has GAS. I have always hated this state of matter, and her cries reconfirms it. :P
Perhaps sometime we can schedule matching co-op visits so I can at least wave "hello!" to you while you're on the run :-). The early months of motherhood can be so challenging to balance, like you've written here.
Look at that "unhappy with the world face!" You're doing an amazing job!
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