Friday, July 31, 2009

A Few Bullets at the End of the Week

  • Well, it's looking pretty definite and official-- my parents are moving to Chicago. They actually seem somewhat better now that decisions are being made, and maniacally busy now to boot. I talked to them on the phone one day this week when my dad told me about a bunch of stuff they are going to do to get their house ready to sell, and when I went over to visit them less than 24 hours later, they had painted a bathroom, installed all new faucets and hinges and door knobs in that bathroom, nearly emptied out two closets, and so forth. I felt a little baffled that it was possible for two people to get so much accomplished in so little time because I have become accustomed to small-children-and-babies levels of accomplishment when I feel good that I manage to stay caught up on our laundry and feed us. Someday, will I too manage such seemingly impossible levels of productivity?
  • I went to a La Leche League meeting this week, which is always nice and cheers me up and makes me feel like I've found MY PEOPLE. It is quite funny to sit in a room with all these other moms and hear everyone discussing cloth diapers and where to find local free-range eggs and making your own baby food like it is NORMAL or something. It's refreshing and reduces the whole cultural isolation feeling. But then sometimes refusing vaccines comes up and I realize, "Hmm, I guess you can't agree with everyone on everything."
  • I am at a low ebb as far as energy and sleep and whatnot. I find that these things come and go as the girls go through more and less independent phases, Violet's nursing at night increases or decreases, and Rob's commitments at work leave him various amounts of time to be here. I'm sure the drama and stress of my parents' situation, my reactions to summer in Texas, and so forth do not help. I believe I tweeted this a few days ago, but lately I have felt like I would pay actual money to be able to take a nap. I wonder what the going rate is for a good nap? I wonder how many other people, parents or not, feel similarly? I do remember reading in some magazine a while back that sleep is the new sex, and I get it. I really do.
  • I am not really exercising right now, which is NOT GOOD. Violet has taken to indulging in only these super short naps (unless she is napping with me), so short that I cannot even get through the 20 minutes of 30 Day Shred. She is still screaming her protest at childcare at the gym (or church). And it is too hot for me to stomach the idea of walking outside, especially with Violet somehow strapped to me (we only have a single jogging stroller). I am trying to come up with solutions to this problems and so far I have come up with getting up early to exercise before Rob leaves for the day (see previous bullet to deduce my feelings on this option) and somehow trying to exercise for 2-3 minutes at a time (which is how I manage to check email, blog, sew, etc). The exercise/tiredness issue is one I have contemplated before, as magazines and experts seem always trying to convince me that exercising will make me less tired rather than more. I don't know; I remain dubious.

4 comments:

amydove said...

Please excuse my never-been-a-mother naivete, but can't you indeed pay for a nap? As in, pay a baby sitter or day care person to take the girls for a little while. Or have your parents watch them. Maybe Violet is too young still.

Here's hoping that your ebb turns into a flow soon!

Christy@pipandsqueak said...

How is it so much of your posts cause me to nod my head and say "ditto". This time it is the exercise. We surely can find a way. I just don't know what it is.

Unknown said...

Oh Julia I feel for you. I think I have not had a full nights sleep in 5 years, and when you do not sleep everything else seems secondary. Exercise after 4-5 hours sleep? I have finally started about once a week, and only because our new house has a gym in the basement and Evan and Ella both take a long nap in the afternoon. That means meals are not being made during that time, so bad me on that end. Thanks for talking about La Leche. I was trying to think how to meet people here that I would get along with.

Julia said...

Let's see-- what is keeping me from literally paying someone so I can take a nap? I guess it's just opportunity costs, not being organized enough, not feeling like a nap is important enough to get a sitter, etc. Grace starts back at her little preschool in just a few weeks, and I've come to think of that as basically paying money for me to nap and take it easy for a few hours a week. A 7-month-old is much easier to wrangle to your will (when that will is to sleep) than a 3-year-old.