About ten days after the arrival of Babygirl on August 28th, I found myself in the kitchen at 5am, baking cupcakes for Babyman’s birthday celebration at school while Babygirl enjoyed her post-breakfast snooze in her bouncy chair. The morning unfolded with the usual parade of lunchboxes, 3-year-old negotiations for more playtime/Sesame Street time/book time, the great wrestling match that is getting dressed and putting on sunscreen — interspersed now with all the breastfeeding, diaper changing, soothing, burping and so forth that accompanies a newborn.
By the time the family stroller caravan departed — Babyman in the Maclaren with daddy (sharply dressed for work in blazer and messenger bag) at the helm, Babygirl snuggled into the Bugaboo bassinet with two trays of chocolate cupcakes balanced precariously on top of her and mommy (also dressed for work, i.e. unshowered and uncombed) staggering behind — it was after 8am and I realized I had consumed half a Betty Crocker cupcake with chocolate frosting and three cups of half-caff for breakfast.
Welcome to the new normal, I thought. It ain’t pretty. Or at least, I ain’t.
Fast forward four weeks, and things are (mercifully) a bit more in-hand. Which means I can steal ten minutes to type with two hands and end my self-imposed blogging maternity leave.
Of course, newborns will be newborns (oops, Babygirl just threw up all over my lap, no joke, just this minute), and 3-year-old boys will be 3-year-old boys (which means, at present, selective listening skills and a propensity for spitting and abusing the word “poop” at high volumes), but I have managed at least to shoehorn a proper bowl of Shredded Wheat into the morning routine. If I am still disheveled at morning drop-off, I can somehow pull of a shower and some semblance of an outfit before pick-up at 4:30 or 5.
With nutrition and hygiene restored, I will now attempt at least one blog post a week in this new era. But for now, I can no longer ignore Babygirl’s screaming, so I’m signing off…
A Mother of Two
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