M went to bed past midnight last night. She was so tired that she was bouncing off the walls. I had to keep reminding myself that this too shall pass, this night will be forgotten one day, one day she will grow up and she won't be in my bed any more, she won't be an innocent toddler filled with energy for long. But we're still human and that means limited energy, which meant that I woke up feeling extra tired (on top of the usual tiredness that comes with being a mother of a toddler and a newborn). M's favourite word today was 'no'.
'Do you want to go to rhyme time?'
'No.'
'Do you want to go outside?'
'No.'
'Do you want to stay home?'
'No.'
She refused to change her nappy for a while, and then she chucked a small tantrum about which nappy she is going to wear. She refused to finish her breakfast (I caved and had the last spoon myself). She refused to get changed, but she did want to go out. By the time we managed to finish breakfast and feeding baby A, changing everyone's nappies and clothes, putting things in the wash and hanging out the washing, it was already 10.30. I just wore whatever was at hand - kept my pyjama pants on underneath my abaya, which was a little short so you could see my pjs from under, and threw on a jilbab. These were the cleanest clothes I had on hand and these would have to do. 10.30 is when rhyme time starts.
So off we went anyway - after we had another small battle about shoes and sitting on the pram nicely - and after I found my keys - with baby A in a wrap and M in the pram. By the time we got close to the shops I realised we would only catch the last five minutes of rhyme time if we head to the library, so I decided to quickly duck to Woolies for some groceries. I also grabbed a coffee to avoid bumping into those regular, overly enthusiastic rhyme time mums, but I couldn't drink it straight away because it was too hot. I didn't want to put it down in the holder in the pram so I just held it.
We headed off to the library after a good amount of time passed. But I did bump into all of the mums I was trying to avoid... while holding a coffee very close to my newborn.
M was climbing sofas instead of sitting next to me while I tried to read her a book. I forgot that I had my feeding cover in my bag and attempted to feed baby A under my jilbab, which proved to be difficult because she's still too little to just latch herself on straight away even without me looking. Ten minutes later I gave up trying to read to M and asked her if she wanted to play outside. After a few more 'no's she agreed to go outside. I somehow managed to get her to agree to go inside the shopping centre again, but she refused to get into the pram and kept getting distracted by everything, so I had to stop every metre and remind her to walk.
We eventually got inside the shops and M climbed onto one of those equipment that you need to pay for, except she doesn't know that it moves if you pay for it so I never pay. The longer she stays ignorant about this the better. By this time my mocha spilt everywhere and baby A had thrown up a bit on my jilbab but then fell asleep again in the wrap. So I was trying to clean my coffee cup so that I don't spill any on bub when I saw one of B's friends and his parents coming towards me. There I was in my too short abaya with pj pants showing, the content of my oversized bag spilling out onto the pram (this happened when I was trying to find some wipes to clean the coffee), jilbab with vomit on it, a sleeping bub very close to the vomit and coffee in hand, also very close to bub.
I survived the pleasantries without feeling too crappy about myself, miraculously. They were very nice people, but honestly could not have picked a worse day to bump into me.
There is way more to this day, and this was only midday at this point. Its 2.34 AM right now and I feel like a zombie. I'll be off to sleep. Maybe I'll type the rest up tomorrow. Maybe I won't.
'Do you want to go to rhyme time?'
'No.'
'Do you want to go outside?'
'No.'
'Do you want to stay home?'
'No.'
She refused to change her nappy for a while, and then she chucked a small tantrum about which nappy she is going to wear. She refused to finish her breakfast (I caved and had the last spoon myself). She refused to get changed, but she did want to go out. By the time we managed to finish breakfast and feeding baby A, changing everyone's nappies and clothes, putting things in the wash and hanging out the washing, it was already 10.30. I just wore whatever was at hand - kept my pyjama pants on underneath my abaya, which was a little short so you could see my pjs from under, and threw on a jilbab. These were the cleanest clothes I had on hand and these would have to do. 10.30 is when rhyme time starts.
So off we went anyway - after we had another small battle about shoes and sitting on the pram nicely - and after I found my keys - with baby A in a wrap and M in the pram. By the time we got close to the shops I realised we would only catch the last five minutes of rhyme time if we head to the library, so I decided to quickly duck to Woolies for some groceries. I also grabbed a coffee to avoid bumping into those regular, overly enthusiastic rhyme time mums, but I couldn't drink it straight away because it was too hot. I didn't want to put it down in the holder in the pram so I just held it.
We headed off to the library after a good amount of time passed. But I did bump into all of the mums I was trying to avoid... while holding a coffee very close to my newborn.
M was climbing sofas instead of sitting next to me while I tried to read her a book. I forgot that I had my feeding cover in my bag and attempted to feed baby A under my jilbab, which proved to be difficult because she's still too little to just latch herself on straight away even without me looking. Ten minutes later I gave up trying to read to M and asked her if she wanted to play outside. After a few more 'no's she agreed to go outside. I somehow managed to get her to agree to go inside the shopping centre again, but she refused to get into the pram and kept getting distracted by everything, so I had to stop every metre and remind her to walk.
We eventually got inside the shops and M climbed onto one of those equipment that you need to pay for, except she doesn't know that it moves if you pay for it so I never pay. The longer she stays ignorant about this the better. By this time my mocha spilt everywhere and baby A had thrown up a bit on my jilbab but then fell asleep again in the wrap. So I was trying to clean my coffee cup so that I don't spill any on bub when I saw one of B's friends and his parents coming towards me. There I was in my too short abaya with pj pants showing, the content of my oversized bag spilling out onto the pram (this happened when I was trying to find some wipes to clean the coffee), jilbab with vomit on it, a sleeping bub very close to the vomit and coffee in hand, also very close to bub.
I survived the pleasantries without feeling too crappy about myself, miraculously. They were very nice people, but honestly could not have picked a worse day to bump into me.
There is way more to this day, and this was only midday at this point. Its 2.34 AM right now and I feel like a zombie. I'll be off to sleep. Maybe I'll type the rest up tomorrow. Maybe I won't.
