Now that Sy has gone back to work because his paternity leave ended, I've become a stay at home mom. And do you know what I've realized? I spend a LOT of time in Emily's room. I've been taking care of Emily for 6 weeks now, and the majority of my time goes to putting Emily down. It can take a really long time to get her to fall asleep - sometimes more than an hour.
So what am I doing when I put Emily down? I'm usually pacing her room - shh-ing her, rocking her, swinging her, walking in circles - all within the 4 walls of her room.
When I was pregnant, I had spent a lot of time pinteresting all kinds of cute ideas for how to decorate Emily's room. I wanted her room to be perfect - the perfect mix of cute, a little girly, functional, organized, and most importantly - what she would want. I spent more money on her little rug than I did for our own living room rug. I researched mini children's bookshelves that would be perfect for her. I designed bible verses and framed them for her room so she would always know she was loved and blessed by God.
What a fool I was!
Emily doesn't care about her room at all! She can barely see more than 8 inches in front of her face! What I should've done was to actually design her room to be best for ME. I'M the one who spends the majority of my time in her room - staring at the same 4 walls for hours on end. I should've made this room more suitable for me! If I could go back in time, here's what I would add:
1. A large TV that is always on mute with closed captions, and plays on repeat episodes of Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and Family Feud. (I mean come on - who doesn't love Family Feud?? And what better way to not lose your mind than to try to come up with answers from a poll of 100 people) I think 30 minutes would fly by a lot more quickly if I could watch tv than to watch my child's eyelids open YET AGAIN.
2. A large computer screen that plays my instagram and facebook feed for me - and also has some kind of magical ability to auto scroll for me. This would help me to feel connected to the world at normal hours of the day. Right now, I only check social media during the wee hours of the night while I pump.
3. A faux animal skin rug that is super soft on my feet. (you know - that popular ikea white animal skin rug!) I spend so much time pacing in circles on that rug - it'd be nice if I could feel the luxurious fur between my toes.
4. Or maybe on the large computer screen, I can have a large font version of a book to read - because man, I really miss reading normal books. I spent the last 2 months of my pregnancy reading only baby-related books that I haven't been able to read a single page of glorious, beautiful literature. I miss the feeling of getting lost in a book and being transported somewhere else. And when else do you want to be transported more than when you're trapped in a baby's room trying to shush them to sleep for the 13847592475th time?
This is the advice I would give to people who are nesting. Don't make the perfect room for your baby. (Emily can't read any of the books I stocked her bookshelf with!) Make the nursery a haven for yourself, and you might survive the crazy first 3 months.
No comments:
Post a Comment