Baby Gambling

I have a joke about my dining room chairs. I say they took me four naps to re-glue and paint. Although that was seven years ago and they just need to get thrown in the dumpster now.  The point was that, when you have a baby, you have to dare to grab the moment and act as if it’ll last. I call it baby gambling. Act as if. Carpe diem.

With baby Eamon, I was so anxious he wouldn’t stay asleep that I didn’t risk starting anything. Honestly, I grabbed a smoke break or I cleaned something, never letting my creative inner gal have a play-date with me. And thus I stayed in a state of perpetual mental paralysis.  I was so proud of myself for the chair thing when I finally let that happen.

This time around, and no, I no longer have the smoke break excuse, I was not going to psyche myself out of getting on with my life. I even dared to vacuum a week and a half after having Fiona. And I got all but one room done before the baby alarm went off. She was crying pretty hard when I got to her. But she’s still alive and I still was able to complete the job, albeit three hours later.

What’s the worst thing that can happen when you take the gamble? What if the baby needs to eat when I’m at the grocery store? I had to leave my grocery cart in the back of the store and go out to the truck to feed the baby once. What if she wakes up while I’m still on the computer? Lay her on your lap and put a booby in her. Or give up until later. Tough but true. I’ve had laundry continue for two days. Ooh.

This isn’t just a mother/baby thing either. How many projects have you been putting off because you don’t have enough time at one sitting to make it perfectly done. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. There’s always a cliché to cover the subject right? But the point is, if you want to feel like you took time for you, you’re going to have to steal it and gamble that you’ll win the nap round. Because some stuff just can’t be done breastfeeding with a boppy on your lap like my writing can these days. Albeit left-handed at this moment.

And sometimes we have to ask for the help of someone else. Are we afraid we’ll owe someone? Remember this post about how they may need to feel they have accomplished something today too. Helping you to help yourself. Taking a gamble that just might make you be able to say, I did it. And then next week you’ll have totally forgotten about it and you’ll be obsessing over the next project to complete. Sigh.