The New Normal

So we are into 2014, the madness of the arrival of Boo and having Baba at home, Mr L at home, Christmas and New Year has all disappeared and it is time to get into our new normal!

It was a whirlwind month, there is no other way to describe it, and it is hard to get used to our new life.

Adjusting to a family of four, after being a family of three for so many years is hard work, and having a baby that doesn’t sleep after having one that slept pretty much from birth is also hard work. Having a baby with colic which we have never experienced before is hard work.

Both Mr L and I feel like we are brand new parents again, although I think I am worse than Mr L when it comes to thinking that. On more than one occasion he has reminded me that we do have a five-year old that we have brought up by ourselves, which is hard to remember in the dead of the night when all Boo is doing is screaming. But I am trying to remind myself that this wont be forever it will get better and Boo is only five weeks old and he does have colic and he is pain! It is something that I have to keep telling myself to get me through the sleepless nights.

For the last two weeks we got into some lovely habits, sharing the night times, having little sleeps  in the day and staying in bed until 9am but then not actually getting up until 10am and staying in our PJ’s all day.

Monday was a hard day, although we were broken in gently, as Mr went back to work but Baba was still at home as he had two inset days off. But Boo was a nightmare Sunday night, he woke at 1am and didn’t sleep again until 7am and to say I was tired was an understatement and suddenly I had to deal with two children on my own. Luckily we had a day of visitors so I was busy all day but it was still a shock to the system.

Tuesday was even more of a shock as there were no visitors and I had two children on my own and had to split myself between them which I haven’t really had to do since Boo was born as someone else has always been here.  It was different, not impossible but very different. I did manage it and I think we all coped, but before school even started I was tired.

So tired in fact that yesterday and today I have nearly slept through my alarms for school, but we have just about got there on time and haven’t forgotten anything either!

Yesterday we had to go and do a massive food shop once Baba was at school, and as we currently don’t have a car we had to rely on my parents, which meant that we were running around and were in and out all day. So it was another manic day.

This has all meant that today has been our first day at trying to get a routine, rhythm going in the house. It is getting used to the school runs, fitting Boos nap times and feeds around the school runs and making sure that I have enough energy to stay awake for the whole day.

But it is the other things as well, fitting in the dog walk, cleaning with a baby and managing to make some food. Getting a coffee has proved to be a task. It is all things that I am remembering how to do but it has been so long since I have done it, it is taking a while. It isn’t so much the routine it is creating a rhythm, that works for us all, means I can do the things that are needed to be done and get my time with Baba and my time with Boo and get to see Mr in the evenings.

It is going to take a little while I think, Boo is still so young and once we have more sleep I am sure it will all fall into place a lot better, but for now we are muddling through and hoping for the best. As long as every one is cleaned, fed, cuddled and loved in the day it is a successful one in my eyes and I am pleased!