I need Mary Poppins

[judecorp]

hopemcg and meglett and Quinn are coming to stay with us on Friday. OMGSQUEEEE, I am so excited I could pee my pants. Yay!

But there's nothing like impending houseguests to really point out how dirty your house is, you know? Oh, I don't mean we live in filth or that our floor is lined with dirty dishes or anything gross like that, but certain things tend to get left out because they're tough to do with a baby. Things like vacuuming.

Today I put the Punk in the Moby and proceeded to vacuum the entire house. And I do mean the entire house. And oh my god it needed it. But trying to vacuum a whole house with an 18lb kid attached to you, trying to get away? Hard. Much harder than it was when she was about 1 month old, which I think was the last time I did it. But yay, done.

I also finally pulled the couch cover off so it could be washed. It was lovingly stained with months of spit up. Now that she doesn't spit up so much, it's time.

That might not seem like a lot of work but you don't really understand what a day with Punk looks like. Unless she is asleep, I cannot be doing anything else but interacting with her and holding her and touching her and going from activity to activity so she does not yell and cry. If I want to eat, she needs to sit on my lap. If I have to go to the bathroom, I take the Bumbo seat with me. If I need to do something where I can't carry her (like put laundry away) I can put her in the exersaucer IF I can get it done in 6 minutes, which is her limit. And I can hardly vacuum while she is sleeping.

Speaking of sleeping, I tried to get her to nap without the swaddle again today. After an hour, and her becoming totally hysterical, I broke out the swaddle. She is still sleeping. But I may never recover. I don't even know what to do anymore.

But when you DO manage to vacuum with an 18 lb kid on you, AND you get the couch covers washed and dried, AND you managed to entertain a baby all day, AND you spend an hour making a baby hysterical because she just can not sleep unless she is totally immobilized (no matter how much she hates it), the last thing you want to hear from your wife is, "So did you get anything else done?"

Yeah. I got to eat lunch. At 2pm. And I e-mailed the information to the accountant. And got the mail. But I still haven't had a drink today. Aah well - it cuts down on the bathroom trips for sure.

I have fantasies sometimes of having that baby you can put down on the floor for a few minutes while you eat or check e-mail. Like real fantasies. I also have nightmares of what will happen when my child, who needs constant one-on-one attention and copious amounts of parenting to sleep, needs to go to child care. Sometimes I don't know how much longer I can do this... or if maybe she whines and cries so much because someone else would be a lot better at taking care of her. Heaven knows I'm not able to take care of the house at all, and maybe a better mama would be able to keep my kid from crying all day.

I need Mary Poppins.

Comments

[meglett.livejournal.com]

on the synchronicity: WEIRD!! hope and i know joan via various online trying-to-conceive/parenting sites, but this will be the first time meeting her and the kids. and we've met The Family O, but in a big group setting and we didn't get to talk much. we've gotten to know them better online....

it seems like i should friend you, okay? :)

[whuffle.livejournal.com]

Friend away. I suspect that in closing the gap we might find other little overlaps somewhere in there.

BTW, you'll find that I talk about a lot of eclectic stuff on my LJ; pet rabbits and animal rescue rabbits, glassblowing, DIY home renovation, theater lighting design, role playing games, highly experimental cooking, rock climbing.... I do have a couple filters. The ones highly in use right now are the Knock Knock Filter for pregnancy (due April 1st) and the Construction Zone Filter for house renovations. Feel free to let me know if you want in on either.