If I told you that I held two jobs, volunteered at church, practiced karate, and kept house, you’d say I was busy, right? WRONG! This is what my life looked like before 10:58pm on October 11th, 2015. It was on that fateful night that my little White Belt arrived and my perfect, organized little world blew up!
You know what I’m talking about, mommas. Cluster feeding keeps your brain nice and mushy from frequent middle-of-the-night nosh sessions. You add changing, nursing, pumping, nursing, extra laundry, nursing, playing with the baby, nursing, nursing...NURSING to your already full schedule. Any task you take on is constantly interrupted by your, ahem, precious angel, and when you finally get back to it you’ve forgotten where you’ve left off, so your floors are half vacuumed, one side of the sink is empty of dirty dishes, one leg is shaved (or is that just me?!); you get the idea.
Babies are a time suck and a mess! Oh yes, we love them with a love we can’t even describe, but once they're here we spend the rest of our lives running around like chickens with our heads cut off. If we ever make it through our day on time, put together, and with all our necessities… I don’t know what would happen because it’s never happened in the history of motherhood! We need a way to simplify and streamline our lives so that we can get as close as possible to this well-nigh unattainable goal. These are my suggestions.
Get a few multitasking items so you have less to keep track of throughout your day.
Baby items:
When you have a baby, you’re told that you need all kinds of stuff! Your registry probably includes swaddles, burp cloths, pacifiers, swings, bottles… all manner of paraphernalia (not that kind of paraphernalia!). I’m not telling you not to buy these things, because all mommas have different needs. However, you can buy a few multitaskers that will save you packing complications and reduce your risk of showing up somewhere without something essential... like your bra (or is that just me, too?). For example, I use my Swaddle Designs muslin swaddle blanket as a burp cloth, nursing cover, and napping cover at work. I also use the many light, small receiving blankets I got at my shower as burp cloths or nappies (diapers). This way I don’t have to overstuff my bag or do superfluous laundry.
Vacuum:
My baby loves to fall asleep to white noise. If I put her in the Mei Tai carrier while I vacuum, she knocks out. Then I can transfer her oh-so-gently to her bassinet and sneak out like a ninja, praying she doesn’t wake up. Bonus! If she does stay asleep, I can get more housework done or, more realistically, take a nap myself!
Clothes:
I work at a Montessori farm school and may have to trek up to the goat pen to find a student at any time. As such, happily for me, dress is casual. I wear my yoga pants, cross trainers, nursing tank top, and sports bra every day. I top it all off with a cardigan so that I’m not showing too much skin. This way I can drop the baby off at Grandma’s after work and go straight to the gym, because I know I won’t go back out if I go home to change. This may not work for every momma. After all, not everyone is lucky enough to be required to slog through goat poo on a regular basis, but maybe you can try your own variation.
When to have multiples
Sometimes you need just the opposite of multitaskers. Sometimes you need multiples!
Swings/bouncy chairs:
Mommas get crazy-ripped from toting chubby babies, but there are times we just want to put them down. I like to keep a place to put White Belt down on each floor of our home. We have a bassinet in the bedroom and a swing in the nursery and in the basement. I also have a bouncy chair at the office. That way I can set her down near to where I am working and still interact with her!
Blankets:
This might not be important if your baby is born in the summer, but with an October baby blankets are very necessary. I don’t want to be forever running up and down the stairs and hallway to get the blanket, despite the calorie burn, so I keep one on every swing/chair.
Nuks (pacifier/binky/paci/plug, whatever you call yours):
Same goes for nuks! We don’t use one regularly because I’m of the opinion that if she’s crying, she has a problem that won't be solved with a plug. However, she will get herself so worked up that she can’t calm down, even after the problem is solved. That’s when having a nuk anywhere she may be hanging out is handy.
Changing and nursing stations:
I keep a changing and a nursing station fully stocked on every floor. When I need to change a nappy or nurse, I can stay at least semi-focused on the interrupted task until I’m done. Then I can put her back in the Mei Tai or swing and chop back to it!
And there you have it! If you take all this advice, your life will be packaged up into a neatly wrapped little box, topped with a bow. Nothing will ever go wrong, no one will ever get upset. Easy squeezy.
Yeah right. But maybe, just maybe, both legs will get shaved!
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