Monday 3 January 2011

Creatures of Habit

Today's Blog Dare topic sits well with something I wanted to blog about anyway. Lets start with the Blog Dare!


The Morning Routine

If I don't do/have this in the morning, it offsets my entire day! 

When you have a baby, everyone becomes an expert, everyone has their own things that worked for them, and because they worked for them, well they will automatically work for you! "You should be led by your baby" or "You should have a strict routine, its up to you to set what your baby will do and when". "Oh have you read Gina?" "Oh no, you must read and use the Baby Whisperer it saved my life"

When you've had a baby who has lived in a hospital for any length of time, they come out with a routine firmly entrenched. Which, in some ways, is a good thing, but not always. What works in a ward with lots of staff and babies does not necessarily work at home. I think of myself as a "go with the flow" type person, I planned to breast feed on demand, to relax and enjoy my baby. I knew I could read whatever books I liked, but that didn't mean my baby had read the book.

Well unfortunately for me, I got a "seargant major baby" who very much determined what I did and when! It took many months of "negotiating" to get into a place where we were both happy and working as a team. Even now, Joseph's basic routine is very much set. Breakfast upon waking, Lunch at 1 and Dinner at 6. This can possibly be flexible by up to half an hour, any more than that and my little man starts getting very twitchy. Someone asked me once "do you do Gina?" and rather begrudgingly replied "I've never read it, but I think my baby might have".

Which brings me to my morning routine. In my previous life, nothing happened until I had a shower. Now unfortunately, we have a bath. We have chronic "low flow" problem. Said bath takes 15 minutes to run. No way! So bathing is at the end of the day not at the beginning. I get up, get the boy child, change his nappy and then turn the computer on.

Nothing happens until I have checked Facebook and Twitter and my parenting forum. I make Joseph's breakfast, and feed him, then I have my coffee and my own breakfast. I find if I have breakfast at the exact same time as him, he tries to pinch it! Underfed little thing.

So for me, my morning essential is to check my social networking. Its kinda sad, but sort of understandable, as part of my life is still lead in Australian time, so I like to check out what's been happening there, and make sure there's nothing from my mum or my sister that needs my attention.

Everything else is a moveable feast, I can do without my coffee, or my toast (and once I've been grocery shopping my breakfast is going to become a lot more substantial and healthier in line with my New Year's Resolutions)

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