Today was one of those days when I felt like I really accomplished something. Specifically, lots of housework.
There is something so satisfying about having a tidy house. And yet it is sometimes so hard to get motivated. And at other times I hardly seem to need any motivation at all. It just happens. I suppose that there’s a building up to the “it just happens” days. Usually for several days (or weeks) prior to one of those days my frustration has been building. I keep passing a pile of stuff thinking, I need to put that stuff away. I keep looking at the dirty floor thinking, I need to vacuum.
See Isabella collecting dust as she rolls around is a pretty good motivator.
But it all started with getting dressed. I put Isabella in the crib and started to get dressed. But first I made the bed. And then I hung up several piles of clothes: one on the chest at the foot of the bed, another on the top of the dresser, another in a basket by the closet. Then I rearranged the clothes in the dresser, grouping like with like so I could actually find things.
Poor Isabella was starting to protest at being neglected. So I picked her up and played with her for a bit. Got her dressed. Then back to cleaning in the kitchen. Popped her in the exersaucer while I vacuumed the living room. Then had to pick her up because the vacuum makes her cry. (I read recently that lots of babies like the sound of the vaccum, find it soothing. Not Bella.) So I finished off the living room and dining room one handed with baby on the opposite hip. Not the easiest way to proceed.
The day had a different sort of rhythm. I’d get involved in a task and then have to break to tend Bella. Lots of breaks to give her snacks. She’d fall asleep for fifteen to twenty minutes and I’d start cleaning again.
I vacuumed the office, the kitchen, the back hall. I tidied up the dining room table, the living room, the office, the kitchen table. I put some of Bella’s stained clothes to soak in a bwol in the basement sink.
I chatted with my sister as I made lunch for Dom and for myself.
Bella and I took an afternoon walk to the park and stopped by the grocery store to pick up red onions for salsa (and orange juice and brussels sprouts and candy all found their way into the basket as well.)
Then home and played with Bella. And fed her. And started dinner. It was strange that Bella got so fussy so early. Until I remembered the time shift that she wasn’t aware of. It took more than an hour to calm her to sleep. She was so gassy and fidgety. And perhaps overtired because she didn’t have a good nap today. Finally I had to take her into the bedroom and nurse her while lying down in bed in the dark. After about half an hour of that she finally stopped kicking and pawing me and at last drifted off. And is still asleep two hours later.
One dark spot, though. As I was feeding her, I took off my glasses to clean them and as I wiped them with the bottom of my t-shirt, they snapped. The bridge just came unstuck from the frame at the weld. I’ve had this pair less than a year. I remember when I bought them I was pregnant and starting to show. So now I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow: treking to the mall to get a replacement pair from Lens Crafters. Ugh. For now I’m wearing my contacts and hoping I don’t get a headache.
