A new royal start

QueenJess

DS had a brilliant birthday yesterday.. chocolate, cakes, candles, balloons, party hats, loads of zoom time with various family, lots of presents and all day quality time with me.  He fell asleep very fast last night and didn't wake up until 9am!  I think today was a bit of a disappointment to him, but he is excited about seeing his friends at nursery tomorrow and we had hours of fun this morning playing with his toys.

I am struggling today with going back to work.  To be fair, I haven't taken any holiday for almost a year and I think I really need some!  Brain feels slightly less fuzzy and I am hoping to get loads done in the week with DS at nursery so I can spend more quality time with him at the weekends/late afternoons.

Somehow need to tick everything off my list for this month as well as finish a large pile of work.  Taking it one bit at a time so I don't get too overwhelmed.  Today I have stuck to my cleaning regime and have also finally finished researching steam cleaners and ordered myself at a discount by using a load of vouchers.  Means I can start cleaning the baby car seat next week when the cleaner arrives (and probably DS's one too).

This week the plan is to plough through as much work as I can, keep up with the housework, chuck more things on eBay and try to clean all the baby non-soft toys and most of the next size up baby clothes.  Also ordered some cheap curtains for DS at the weekend so I can swap his curtains into the baby room and get rid of the frankly hideous ones that are currently residing in there!  The side table I ordered a month ago is apparently never going to arrive and has been refunded due to "Brexit" (I didn't even know it was coming from another country as the company was in the UK).  Anyway... back to the drawing board and I need to find another table as DH is moaning he wants one as he hates the temporary one I borrowed from another room (despite showing no interest when I mentioned it previously and has been perfectly happy with it having been there for the past 6+ months...)

Oh yes... also need to plan my own birthday for next week... I have managed to think up a few things I would like for the house, so DH may as well get those for me rather than me waiting months for the joint account deficit to recede .  I'll be the one who will appreciate them anyway since one is a very nice cushion for the chair in my bedroom which will be used very regularly once baby arrives.  I may as well be comfy if I am up a million times a night!  Apparently DH is going to try and make a cake for me (which is hilarious).  I'm not sure he has ever baked anything in his life and when he "cooks" he asks so many questions and has to have his handheld that it is quicker to do it myself..

Definitely looking forward to maternity leave and not having to think about home and work stuff together.

savingholmes

B3tty Cr0ck3r fudge cake and icing is divine - ready made cake mix -worth a go. We love it - needs water, egg and veg/olive oil

QueenJess

savingholmes said:

B3tty Cr0ck3r fudge cake and icing is divine - ready made cake mix -worth a go. We love it - needs water, egg and veg/olive oil

Ooh - never thought of that. I have a recipe and the ingredients so was going to hand him the book and inevitably wait for all the questions and do it myself anyway 😂

QueenJess

Hey, just thought I'd let everyone know I am still here!

Feeling totally overwhelmed at the moment with not the news I was hoping for from the hospital visit, work out of control and a huge list of baby/house things still to achieve. Trying to get myself on top of everything.

Hopefully I'll be back soon as I have Friday and Monday off work to try and get myself sorted.

Grogged

Sounds like the holiday has come at the right time.
Take the break you deserve and try to forget work for a bit.
Take care, G.

MagicCat

Sorry to hear things are feeling difficult @QueenJess.  Take care and look after yourself .

savingholmes

Don't push yourself too hard. You sound like you do ever such a lot... Be kind to you - not just to others.

QueenJess

February is turning into a bit of a nightmare.  So glad now I decided to try and use up my work holiday before the end of the financial year as I need all the time I can get.  Only got two weeks left at work and only working 3 days a week anyway.

Work is relatively under control now.  I have a set list of things to get done and I have split those into weekly tasks to complete.  I finished all the things I had on the list for this week and so not even thinking about work right now.

I just can't deal with the whole birth situation at the moment and am pretending it isn't happening (not a long term solution I realise..).  I'm not an idiot and realise logically there is no choice for me, it is what it is, everyone is currently healthy and I should be happy with that and just get on with it.  But I am completely devastated by it and just can't seem to come to terms with it at the moment.  Can't even think about it from a planning perspective without ending up in tears (not like me at all - I'm more the get on with it kind of person).  I'd forgotten how lonely pregnancy/having a baby can be sometimes.

I know everyone thinks it is a minor thing in the big scheme of things and the point is you have a nice new baby to look forward to straight after to focus your mind on instead.  The problem is I am dreading the first bit because I had such a bad experience the last time (it wasn't the birth, but the after bit when we were both ill and had so many problems that went on for a year).  I know it might all be fine this time, but I am wary.  Once that bit is gone out the way and it all settles down then of course I will be happy as I do want the baby (I feel I know her little personality already!).  Trouble is, it is difficult to find something to focus on that's positive in the very short term.

Anyway, my very short term solution is to ignore it for a couple of weeks and continue working through getting the house and everything else ready so I don't have to think about that later (plus apparently I have to take it easy, which I will not enjoy..).  I've actually written a list this time as I think of things and have been crossing them off.  Ditched making extra income this month as I can't deal with that either at the moment.

All the baby things are here/ordered/cleaned (including the pram, car seat, moses basket etc).  That was an epic task and I've just finished the last of the baby clothes washing after a number of days of soaking clothes to remove those horrible yellow stains that appear after you've packed up the clothes for a few years.  After doing all that, I am now behind on the general housework and everyone else's washing, but got the weekend and Monday to catch up a bit on those.

Now I am onto clearing up the house (bit of a tip as I've neglected it to get things off the baby list!) and starting to stock up on various things I don't want to have to think about for months (e.g. cleaning stuff, shampoos, soaps etc).  That should be done this weekend and then I need to think about clearing out the freezer and then restocking it with some meal batch cooking, as well as increasing the weekly shopping list to stock up on cupboard essentials.  Probably means I am very unlikely to hit my joint account deficit reduction this month, but I'd rather be ready and bringing forward lots of expense will just mean March and April will be cheaper and should get me back to where I want to be.

My birthday was as good as it could have been in the circumstances.  I did take the day off and did absolutely nothing.  No cleaning, tidying, washing or cooking, which was nice.  DH did manage to make a cake from a recipe, although as usual decides to do it at a completely inconvenient moment when I was trying to juggle multiple bits for dinner and I had to do lots of handholding... I also ordered myself a couple of small houseplants to cheer myself up.  Might also tackle ordering a couple of prints for the bathroom that I've found (not expensive) - yes, more money, but it would cheer me up and is something very small and positive to focus on.

My birthday cake has just finished and I have no goodies and no desserts in/planned.  This is the sad state of affairs over here!  Maybe I should throw some muffins together this weekend as they are quick, easy and freezable.  DH is on dinner duty this weekend and we have a nice ready to cook meal for tomorrow.  I haven't actually made a card yet though 😬.  Another thing for todays list.

savingholmes

Sorry that it is so hard to plan and organise things in the current situation. I feel for you. Wish there was something I could do... 

rugbymadfamily

Glad that things have calmed down a bit for you at work, getting close to finishing up now which is great. I've never had a baby so no idea what you're going through, but just be kind on yourself and take time to put your feet up when you can, take a cup of tea and some chocolate and try not to think too hard about the birth / afterwards. You've got this xx