key learnings so far…

alrighty then…so it’s three weeks into our parenthood journey and we have already experienced some key learnings that the google didn’t warn us about.

the press studs on baby clothing are very strong and difficult to fasten and undo, not to mention that when you have your screaming newborn on the change table she wont just lay there with her legs straight out waiting for you to undo her overly studded onesie, change her nappy and then hopefully get all the little press studs to align while putting the very cute, but difficult, garment back on. no, no you must do this while the screaming bundle of joy kicks her legs in a jerky out of control fashion and you consequently end up with a lopsided, one leg shorter than the other creation and at 1.30am you figure who cares? she will need changing again in two hours so you can fix it then. I will keep this challenge in mind when purchasing any clothing for her in future.

a lot of baby “stuff” comes with velcro as a fastener and the only thing I know of that comes in an adult size with velcro are boardshorts so taking this new material into consideration while doing the laundry didn’t enter my thoughts…I just chucked all the baby stuff in the washer and an hour later I was standing at the clothesline trying to untangle the ball of onesies, singlets and bibs that had formed due to my failure to understand the power of velcro…NASA use it on space shuttles – hello…so the learning here is fasten all velcro prior to washing, cause hanging everything in one big ball takes ages to dry…

all new babies do is eat, sleep and poo – yes it would appear that this is correct. however it’s the frequency of the eating, sleeping and pooing that can come as a shock. yesterday I may as well have walked around with my tits to the wind all day and night to accommodate the feeding schedule of kenzi. I tried to leave the house to get some groceries and after three attempts finally got to dash out and take a spin round woolies – otherwise we would have continued the cheese on toast diet…

I need to express any supplementary feeds in the morning…by the time the afternoon hits I could sit with the breast pump sucking away for hours and get a disappointing 20-50ml which at 3am doesn’t really cut the mustard.

have a shower and get dressed early in the day…while my pre baby idea of a relaxing day in during cold weather would have involved hanging out in my pyjamas all day, now it feels strangely demotivating so getting in the shower early in the day says get off your arse and do something sista!

these are just a few of the learnings I have had over the past three weeks. the other thing I have is a renewed respect for woman who have multiple births or children born close together. my besty had her two eldest at 11 months apart and I take my hat off to her.

I am certain that the learning curve will continue to increase as I get closer to a time that will see me back behind the wheel and resuming some exercise…I may end up doing my workouts at 1am…could be interesting…