Investigation Research Project
Topic: What do SAHMs do all day? Part 1
Subject: 2 weeks old
In my pre-maternal state, I asked several persons what stay at home moms do all day. The response usually came with a shrug (or perhaps a growl), "time just goes away."
This was unsatisfactory. I thought I might record this for my benefit later, and for anyone else who is curious. At this point my son is two weeks old and very needy, so I'll try to update as he grows and see how my schedule changes.
Question: What do SAHMs do all day?
Answer: The tedious things that affect normal people, only it takes 1000 times longer.
Examples:
Sleeping
Sleeping is mostly a joke with a newborn in the house, for in the case of my son, who may sleep at three hour intervals during the day, at night he usually only sleeps one to two hours at a time, if he sleeps at all between feedings. I've learned that to get a semi-decent night's rest, I need to pretend the night is 12 hours long. Only 6-8 hours of actual sleeping may occur in this time, and since it's so broken up and I'm doing things in between, I'm still exhausted and need a nap somewhere in the daytime. Hence, half of a 24 hour period is spent either sleeping or trying to sleep.
Eating
Feeding the baby takes between 15 minutes and 1 hour each time, and he eats 8-12 times a day.
I eat as well, usually holding the baby or being interrupted by the baby. Tonight I decided to cook supper (meals have usually been leftovers from what kind souls have brought us, or what I pre-made and froze before little boy arrived). Since Garrett was home, it took me around the normal time supper making would take, between 30 minutes to an hour. Little boy was kind and slept in his swing while we ate, so eating supper didn't take any longer than usual.
Diaper changing
Diaper changes should only take about 5 minutes or so, but often they take much longer. Most of the time little boy gets offended that we are stealing his dirty diapers (which he had worked so hard on), and retaliates by kicking, screaming, and peeing on everything. At least once a day we'll have an extra long diaper change, after which as soon as he is clean, clothes changed, and diaper changing area sanitized, he'll immediately make another dirty diaper. Then we start over. Hence, sometimes changing a dirty diaper can take up to 30 minutes. Diaper changes happen as often as eating does at this point, and they usually follow one another.
Bathing
I'm still not used to bathing a tiny person, so it probably takes me longer than it would a seasoned SAHM. Little boy hates being bathed, insert've been trying to bathe him every day or every other day, so it's a chore we both dread. This takes 15 to 30 minutes, and I've been peed on every time (and worse). Which brings us to...
Laundry
Little boy goes through multiple outfits a day due to explosive diapers or vomit. His clothes are small, granted, so one wouldn't think I should have to do a load of laundry every day (which I've been doing, and it's been full every day), but he rarely keeps his filth to himself. All of the days outfits go into the washer, as well as one or both diaper changing covers, burp cloths, bedsheets, and bath towels. To this we add any of the parents' clothing that he has soiled by proximity, and then we have a full load. Insert time it takes to wash/fold laundry.
Entertainment
Little boy is still a person, and even though his levels of entertainment are low, they must still be met. When the pacifier falls out, it may need to be replaced. When the ceiling fan loses interest, the swing may need to be reoriented towards the window. Little boy loves staring at our faces, which means we must be close enough for him to see them. We usually stare back or talk to him. This is time consuming but fascinating, and I'm not exactly sure how much time I spend each day playing with him, but I don't regret a minute of it. Babies are neat.
Research
This may just be me, but I spend quite a bit of time researching how bad of a parent I am. I'm not a total screw up so far, but I'm suffering on the sleeping routine part. I'm either two weeks late in putting little boy on a sleeping schedule, or a few years to early. The internet is very conflicted.
Extra notes:
As I said, everything takes longer than it did before, and some of this isn't directly little boy's fault. Moving around takes longer for me because I'm still healing from last fortnights exorcism (Garrett and I decided giving birth could be perceived as having an external spirit, possibly evil, removed from my body, and that is far more fun to think about than giving birth). So, going to the bathroom, changing clothes, and even getting in/out of bed take longer than they normally would. This is getting better, but not as quickly as I would like. Because of the sleep deprivation, I'm not as good at multi-tasking, so I'm usually concentrating on whatever task I'm doing and I'm not much good for anything else. I'm trying to get better at this, though, and have started low levels of multi-tasking, generally when I'm nursing. This week I've watched a couple of movies (as I said, low levels of multi-tasking), and read one book.
Have to go - I'm off to feed my baby now...
