excuses, excuses…

I don’t blog enough.

My house is a mess.

I’m overweight.

I’m rubbish at keeping in touch with my friends.

I forget people’s birthdays – or rather, I remember, but don’t get round to doing anything about it.

I’ve stopped shining my sink. I never really got in to meal planning.

And yet you know something, I have no excuses for any of these things. I’m a new(ish) mum, tis true. But you know what, I’m going to make a terrible admission…

I have a good life and an easy baby.

Yes, we have some nights when it takes a couple of hours to get her to sleep. Yes, she sometimes has a quick cry in the middle of the night, or coughs and keeps us up.

• But we don’t have sleep problems. Generally, once she’s down, she’s down. And generally, she’s asleep within 15 minutes of me throwing her unceremoniously into her cot (we tried bedtime routines. They didn’t work for us/her. She’s clearly as little into routine as I am! Perhaps a topic for a future post).

Yes, I worry about her health. She had reflux as a baby and wouldn’t feed. She has eczema on her hands and feet and she sometimes gnaws at her hands so much they bleed. She seems prone to coughs and colds.

• But her reflux subsided when we weaned, and since we’ve been on cows milk instead of formula, she’s been guzzling milk for the first time. Her eczema is really only on her hands and feet and except for when it’s really bad, it doesn’t bother her too much, just leaves her with dry skin. And all babies are prone to coughs and colds…

Yes, I worry about her development. She’s 15 months and has only just started rolling over consistently, she can’t crawl or walk. She’s only recently started saying mama in context, and only then when she’s screaming for me.

• But she gets around pretty darn well. She bum shuffles and loves it – it makes everyone smile. She’s starting to want to walk, and she didn’t roll over because being on her tummy brought her reflux back. She can say “woof woof”, “yes”, “no”, “mama”, “quack quack” and even this evening seemed to say her name and “fish”!

Yes, I worry about money. Our friends seem to have so much more – bigger houses, nicer cars, fancier holidays. We won’t be able to afford private education for Moo.

• But hubbie and I are both in work. In good, professional jobs. I work part time by choice. I could always increase my hours if I wanted more money. And I don’t believe in private education anyway! (Watch me become a hyprocrite when I find out what the local state schools are like…)

Yes, I worry about my career. I’ve gone back part time, in a role that allows me to work flexibly, but which has very little (read, no) promotion prospects. My peers are being made partners in other firms, and I haven’t had a decent pay rise in years.

• But I’ve chosen to take a step back. I’m respected by my colleagues for my abilities, and they accept my restricted hours. I’m in a very lucky position of being able to choose. I could work more and get more, but I’d miss out on Moo. She’s only little for a short period of time, and when she goes to school, who knows?

I don’t have any excuses for feeling like life gets on top of me. I need to jump on the Nike bandwagon and Just Do It. My problem is procrastination and a general malaise.

But days like today show me that I can do things.

• I had a good, positive day at work where I pushed through on a project that I am passionate about – I love some aspects of my job.
• Moo has been a sweetheart, happy and giggling and although she didn’t want to go to bed, she lay down and went to sleep when I put her down.
• I cooked a tasty, healthy dinner for me and my man.
• My post from yesterday got some lovely comments and a good number of hits.
• I barged through my natural shyness to suggest to a fellow, local, blogger that we should meet up in real life, and she said yes!  I mean, I’ll still think she doesn’t want to meet me until it actually happens, but I know that’s all in my head!
• I’m hoping to go to Cybermummy and meet some more bloggers.
• I’ve written this post and might actually get it in to the Writing Workshop in time…

And I’m going to see Dave Gorman tomorrow night!

Life is good.  No more excuses.

This is a response to the Writing Workshop over at Sleep is for the Weak.  I decided to write on prompt #3:

3. What excuses are you hiding behind at the moment?
– Inspired by the very fabulous Leslieanne at Life with a Little Dude who has been ‘buying for the baby’ and discovering the dark side to Baby Led Weaning!