Day In The Life

It occurred to me today that I havent written anything of substance about day-to-day life with the Spud. Possibly because I'm too busy living it to write about it, possibly because I dont want to scare the bejeebus out of people who are about to join the ranks of the permanently sleep-deprived. However, if I dont write any of this stuff down I'm likely to forget what it was like, and start to say stupid stuff like "it wasnt that bad honey, lets have another one..."

So here's a brief run-down of a typical day in Pandaland:

4am: Spud starts snuffling. I wake up and hope he'll put himself back to sleep.

4.30: Spud starts screaming. Obviously not going back to sleep then. Feed Spud, with incredibly painful and overflowing boobs.

5.00am: finish feed. Wake Monkey Boy to change his nappy. Spud's, not Monkey Boy's.

5.15: feed again.

5.30. Hope the sleeping nugget stays asleep as I put him back in his hammock. 50/50 chance he'll ed up in our bed, cradled in my arms.

8.00 Spud stirs again. Feed, change nappy. Get up. Cup of tea awaits me in the loungeroom. Feed again.

8.30: drink cup of tea. If lucky, eat muesli.

9.00: pump breastmilk. Hop online.

9.30 - 1.00pm feed, change feed, strap screaming baby in Hugabub. Settle. If lucky get to brush teeth. If really lucky get to have shower, get dressed, put SHOES on and take tablets. If not at all lucky, feed, change, feed, try to settle, feed, scream, feed, change, feed, hand over to Monkey Boy and consider running away from home.

1.00-3.00: usually asleep if he's in the hugabub. Lie down on couch with riveting daytime teevee or read. Ocasionally I've been known to nod off. Try to organise something lunchy. Put on a load of washing.

3.00-5.00:feed, change, feed, settle, feed...etc. Watch Bold & The Beautiful with Spud. Discuss Ridge & Brooke's future and wonder when Stephanie will just die already.

5.00-6.00 feed, change, feed.

6.00: think about dinner. Screaming starts again.

6-9pm: screaming. Spud also screaming. Somewhere in here we get to eat, but not at the same time. Spud demands food constantly, but wont attach properly. Screams when not on the boob. Walk around house with Spud. Bounce Spud. Change Spud. Feed Spud. Rock Spud. Cry. Get angry. Think about running away from home again.

9pm: go to bed, exhausted. Feed Spud in bedroom. Rock him for about 20 minutes after feeding. Put him in hammock. Creep into bed. Pray he doesnt wake. If lucky, he stays asleep til 4am. If unlucky, he wakes, wants more food, screams, and usually gets a bottle of expressed breast milk after which he sleeps like...a baby.

I read this back and forgive myself for getting all twitchy and emotional and crazed by the end of the day because its damn repetitive and damn hard work. At the same time I realise that I am so bloody lucky to have Monkey Boy here 24/7 to help carry the load. He can and does take Spudly when I cant deal with the screaming anymore, when I need to have a shower or when I just need to lie down and rest for a little while. He does get up at 4.30 every morning to change the pooey nappy and changes the majority of them during the day too. He makes me cups of tea and yummy food and does most of the housework. He's keeping Spudly entertained right now so I can do something as seemingly trivial as posting on my blog, but which we both realise keeps me sane so it will keep everyone else sane too.

So there's the bare bones of my life right now. Later on I'll fill in the blanks. Luckily, they're the bits with all the good stuff in them.

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