Above is a picture of the latest hit around here. Colin loves his boppy pillow! He fits in it quite well and likes to sleep in it. It works well when he wants to hang out with mom. He can sleep in it while next to me on the couch and I can have my hands free to get a few jobs done.
I went on a short "outing" the other day just because I could officially drive after two weeks. The test on whether I could drive involved stomping my foot. If no pain, I could confidently slam on the brakes as needed. Although I didn't have any pain, what I didn't factor in was that I was way too tired to be driving. I felt like a first time driver clinging to the wheel and putting all of my focus on staying between the lines. In a parking lot, I started into forward instead of reverse and was thankful to realize it before any damage was done to the nice looking building in front of me. I did enjoy getting out and I equally enjoyed going right back to the safety of home, too.
In my single days, I used to feel jealousy towards my co-workers when they would take a maternity leave. My crazy days at work sometimes left me wishing for a reasonable excuse to take a leave of absence. A maternity leave seemed like the ideal way to get a break. I just needed a husband and a baby to make my dream a reality. Now that I'm viewing all of this from an entirely different angle, I chuckle to myself when I think of my past, novice views. A break??? HA HA HA!!! I sure have a greater respect now for what it really means to take a maternity leave. It's definitely still a full-time job. It involves a lot of work, juggling, balancing, plus physical and emotional energy-just means doing your best work on very little sleep. There are no specific hours-one is on duty 24 hours a day-no leaving work to come back to it the next day. And it sure involves having a boss-just one who is small and doesn't communicate with words-just certain looks, cries, and satisfied sighs. The payoff is quite amazing and well worth every bit of energy!
Thank you for posting your insights as well as the photos of Colin. Yes, parenting...especially new parenting...is inextricably tied in with learning to function effectively while sleep deprived!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on being able to stomp your foot without pain once again, and to the freedom and flexibility that driving provides. I've experienced enough sleep deprivation myself over the years that I'm well versed in needing to assess driving fitness rather than the easier case of assuming that it's safe for me to get behind the wheel of a car. No accidents yet, thank goodness. May that remain true for you, too.