Good Days

I feel I need to start this with a disclaimer, before I get slammed. I understand that some parents who have babies who don't sleep, or are doing it on their own, or have twins (or more), or have an older kid/s and a baby, or have a baby with colic or special needs. I completely understand and feel for parents who don't get good days, or seldomly get good days.

I just wish people had told me beforehand, that good days happen. I guess a few people did, but for the most part I was told, and read about, how difficult it is to be a parent. The whole idea that it is the hardest job in the world, you never see your friends again, you work 24-7 blah blah blah. Maybe that is the reality for some people but I thought it might be the only reality once you spawned. When I mentioned that I might get some reading done while on mat leave, I was laughed at. I had started to imagine this situation where I got about 2hours of sleep a night and just did laundry and dealt with a screaming baby all day. The truth is though, for me at least, it is actually pretty good. In addition to having this magical, wonderful little bub, life in general is pretty good.

This is what a good day is like:
I get woken once or twice to feed bub during the night. This involves being up for about 20-30mins at a time. I wake up for the day around 7 and get bub dressed (the novelty of baby clothes is yet to wear off). We then spend about an hour hanging out on her play mat while she coos and ahs at her toys and gives me big smiles. She trys to roll over a bit but we still aren't there yet. Then she has a nap for about 90mins so I do a bit of laundry and clean up, then whatever takes my fancy. When she is up again we play some more, or I read to her, or sing nursery rhymes and make a general dick of myself, but she seems to find it very entertaining. Then she sleeps again. I usually take her out for a walk in her pram in the afternoon, or I put her in the Maduka carrier and go for a walk through the forest. She usually gets a bit cranky around 4, even on a good day, so I give her a bath around 4:30 to calm her down. She has fun pushing herself off the edge of the bath with her legs. We play more. We read a book. She goes to bed at 7. There are obviously nappy changes, feeds, sometimes a few outfit changes and a few chores that get done but all in all, I think it is pretty good. Beats my usual day job.

There are also the days we go out which are lots of fun. We go to nursery rhymes, or walking with friends, or just visiting people. I tend to get out and about a lot with bub. It throws out her routine sometimes, but it is no big deal.

Most of all though, I just love being a mum. I love watching her develop every day. I love discovering her personality. I love the cute gummy smile and baby talk. People did tell me about that of course.

Of course there are bad days, but they aren't as common as I thought they would be.