3.5 Weeks with Walter

I may not have had much to say about pregnancy, but motherhood is something totally different. Life has changed so much, without really having changed at all (at least for the good things). I’ve never before had days that can change so quickly from incredibly frustrating to incredibly easy (and sometimes back again!). I’ve never done anything that could alternate so quickly from being almost overwhelmingly demanding to being almost laughably easy. I’ve certainly never multi-tasked so much, nor felt that I’ve accomplished so little in a day.

Enjoying some cuddle time :

The funny thing about a day’s accomplishments is that I get the same amount of non-‘work’ related stuff done as I did before. I know this because I was feeling like my days were just slipping away, so I compared what I would do on an average work day as opposed to what I get done now. Productivity levels are about the same. In fact the house is slowly getting cleaner than it was when I was working. The only area where I’m falling behind is in book reading. I used to get through 8-12 books a month, and now I’m lucky if I finish one in a week. I’m slowly getting more reading time, as I can often now balance Walter & a book when in bed and if I didn’t have so much stuff to organise for our upcoming move I could claim more reading time.

Walter in his 'big boy chair'--it allows us to cook, sometimes even together, when Walter is awake. He tolerates sitting in the kitchen doorway and watching us, as long as we keep up a steady current of song.

My days of fancy cooking are currently on hold, since my new meal philosophy is quick, nutritious, low-labour. Walter is still too young to be somewhat predictable. He has days where he seems to be awake all day, and other days where he seems to sleep all day (usually one follows the other). He also has days where he likes to be quiet in the morning and active in the afternoon, and then he’ll switch a couple days down the road. Cooking, then, can only be done in his quiet moments (or if David takes him).

I do feel really spoiled with David working at home. At first we didn’t think it would work, but he seems to like it and I think I leave him alone more than he thought I would. When he wants a break he’ll usually come and sit with Walter, which means I can get stuff done even if he’s needing attention. It also means that there’s someone else to heat up lunch or make my breakfast if Walter can’t be left.

My little family

The biggest challenge continues to be Walter’s eating habits, or at least his digestive habits. More evenings than I like to remember contain an hour or two of a screaming Walter, either because he has gas pains OR because he insists he’s starving to death (while we marvel that he can be hungry yet again and worry about overfeeding him). In fact most of his crying spells are because he’s hungry. In that sense formula feeding is quite challenging, at least for me. I can see how much he’s eating and always worry that we’re giving him too much. I know I just need to get over this. As my mum reminded me the other day, I really don’t need to worry about his diet and over-eating until he’s on solids. Still, it is frustrating trying to guess how much and how often he’s going to eat on any given day, especially when some of his meals bring on his gas pains which always makes me feel guilty. That said, some of his other meals bring on the end of his gas pains, so I guess he knows what he wants!

Aside from the day-to-day of looking after Walter, David and I are busy trying to tie up loose ends in Cambridge in anticipation of, hopefully, a two-month working holiday in Germany.  It would be a research trip for David and a holiday/change of scene for me & Walter. The amount of stuff that needs to come together for it to work can feel quite overwhelming, especially when it comes to Walter’s passport (which is the main worry, actually, because it is a giant pain to get while living abroad and the consulate is not overly accommodating), so your prayers would be appreciated. If it all works out tho, and we’re really praying it does, it will be an awesome adventure which will help fill this strange limbo that we’re about to enter into. 

My sweet sleepy-head at 3 weeks old