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Diary Of A New Mum -
Week 30
The Great Escape
Paul and I worked out that we hadn’t had any time ‘off’ for two months. Can
you actually have time off from being a parent? I guess not. But we were feeling
the strain of not having a break from the relentlessness of it all, and were
relieved when Paul’s parents said they were coming to stay.
My first thought: A lie in! That’s all I wanted – to lie in bed on Sunday
morning with Paul, drinking tea and eating toast, reading the papers, just
relaxing. This is impossible with a baby, of course. Even if we try to give each
other the chance to do this occasionally, it just isn’t the same on your own.
Staying in bed on a Sunday morning is a ‘couple’ thing. And it is also one of
the first things to go when you become parents.
Paul’s mom and dad were happy to oblige. We were all a little anxious that
Jessica-Ann might be a bit thrown by the appearance of her grandmother in the
morning, instead of her mother or her father. In the end, Paul got up and helped
them all get started with breakfast, then came back to bed with tea and toast.
Lovely! I can’t tell you how decadent it felt. And I can’t wait to do it again –
sometime next year, perhaps…
We escaped again the next day, this time to look for a new car. There are
certain things it is very difficult to do with a baby in tow, and buying a car
is one of them. The constant lifting of her in and out of the cars for test
drives, and then into chilly port-a-cabins for the tough negotiations, gets a
little wearing after a while. Mind you, it’s nothing compared to the trouble we
went to when we were looking for our boat!
A few hours later and we had the deal in the bag. This month we’ve bought a car
and a boat – not bad for an economic crisis. Being a parent rearranges your
priorities in such interesting ways. Our criteria for a new car, for example,
was how much room there would be for Jess’s pushchair, travel cot, and all the
other stuff she has to travel with. Our Jessica-Ann is like a film-star with an
entourage!
No more are we excited by clean lines and horse-power. Now it is safety and
space that get us excited. The car we decided on is a little tatty inside. Good,
I told Paul. Now I won’t have to worry about it getting ruined. See, I’m already
thinking like a true mother…
Diary of a New Mum Week 31
Too Many Carrots In which the health visitor notices Jessica-Ann's healthy color and suggests
a change to her diet...
Diary of a New Mum Week 33
A Baby Cage In which I purchase a play-pen and wait to see how Jessica-Ann will react...
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