the juggle

Ever since I brought Ingrid home from the hospital (she was there for 2 weeks learning how to eat since she was a preemie), I've really wrestled with finding a balance between work and mothering.  I had no idea what kind of schedule a baby lives by, or what to do with Ingrid between nursing her and nap times.  I also had no idea how much a tiny baby could barf, fart, and belch!

My stash of Merino wool, already dyed, towered toward the ceiling- and for weeks, I ignored it.  I felt obliged to get back to work as soon as possible since I had been on bedrest for nearly two months towards the end of my pregnancy, and also because T. found out in November that he would be losing his job sometime in January.

The first few weeks that Ingrid was home, I found time to card wool into batts because she slept all day long, but those long nap stretches ended  quickly.  My schedule was punctuated with 10 minute feeds, activity time (which usually involved Ingrid staring at my face while I read her books that were mine as a child), loads and loads of laundry, whirlwind cleaning sessions, and showers (have I mentioned how much she barfs?)  Now, I find myself relaxing a little more- skipping cleaning sessions and laundry loads in order to snuggle with her as she wakes up from naps and curl up with her while watching the morning news on my laptop.  T. has picked up the slack around the house, and even brings me breakfast and coffee in bed each morning!

Just this week, T. started practicing pulling roving off of my Pat Greene Supercard, and I have begun to use my parents as babysitters while I work for a few short hours at a time while they're in the same room with me. Oh, but with a face like this staring back at me from the floor in my studio, how can I focus?

I'm sure I'll be back to work at full steam... oh, perhaps never.  But I sure do love my wee distraction.