So Hd went out of the country on Sunday. For 2 days and 2 nights. Leaving me with 2 kids. I survived. The school run was the tough thing but otherwise things were pretty cool. So here's how it went.
Sunday
6.30 pm - Hd left.
Then I rock Antu to sleep. Feed Ashu dinner.
7.30 pm - Antu wakes up. I change her diaper, feed her lying on the bed. Ashu lies beside me. Antu goes to sleep and I put her in the crib.
8.15 pm - I give Ashu some laptop time and eat my dinner.
8.30 pm - I brush Ashus teeth, help her clean up her room and read her bed time stories.
9.15 pm - I lie down on the floor on a mattress while she goes to sleep on her bed.
9.30 pm - Shes asleep. I leave the room. Hubby calls. I do the dishes, clean the kitchen, brush my teeth and channel surf.
10.00 pm - The movie Transporter. I'm hooked. I watch. (I am a sucker for car chases.)
11.00 pm - Very sleepy. I record the rest of the movie and go to sleep.
Monday
1.55 am - Antu wakes up. I put her beside me and continue my sleep while she feeds.
3.50 am - Antu wakes up again. Since shes beside me already, she feeds again. I continue sleeping.
5.45 am - Ashu wakes up. Comes to our room and lies down near me. I continue sleeping.
6.30 am - Alarm goes off and I get up like a spring.
6. 30 to 8.15 am - Ashu drinks her milk, I drink my tea, I change Antus diaper, I pack lunch for Ashu, dress her up, dress Antu up, I dress up. Ashu eats cereal, I feed Antu and we are out of the door at 8.10 and in the car at 8.15.
8.45 am - I drop Ashu at school and get back home at 9.30 am. (traffic) Antu sleeps on the trip back.
9.45 am - I eat breakfast.
10 00 am - I feed antu.
10 to 11 am - I change diaper, I make lunch, talk to my parents on the phone and check mails.
11.15 am - I change diaper and feed Antu.
11.45 am - I eat my salad and get Antu ready in the car seat.
12.00 noon - We are out of the door.
12.25 pm - Reach school and pick up Ashu.
1.00 pm- Reach home. Both are sleeping. I wake Ashu up and she cries all the way to the 10th floor.
1.20 pm - Feed Antu. Feed Ashu lunch. I eat lunch.
2.30 pm - Antu goes to sleep. I clean up after lunch while Ashu lies down on the sofa licking a lollipop.
2.30 to 5.30 - Read books for Ashu. Change diaper for Antu. Feed Antu. Give snack for Ashu. Blog surf. Check mails. Run Ashu a bath. Feed. change. Make tea.
Because of the interrupted sleep all day long, Antu goes to deep sleep at 5 pm.
6.00 to 7.30 pm - Long phone call with my sis while Ashu is goofing around.(blowing raspberries and spraying every inch of the living room!) Then I prepare to make some dinner for myself. I feed Ashu her dinner. Brush her teeth and ask her to pick the books while I eat my dinner since Im starving.
8.00 pm - I'm hogging on the tortilla wraps while Ashu calls me. I ask her to wait until I finish my dinner. When I go to check on her 5 minutes later, shes snoring! Bliss.
9 00 pm - I wake Antu up, change her diaper and feed her. She goes to sleep. I catch up with Internet and doze off by 10.00 pm.
Tuesday
2.00 am - Antu wakes up...
Repeattu.
Thoughts
Its doable as long as none of us fall sick.
Ashu is in her perfect behaviour if its only me she has to deal with it.
Its enough if I talk to Ashu, tell her a story, read her a book or play with her. TV, Laptop, Chocolates, Candies and Lollipops mean NOTHING to her if she finds out that they are bribes and not treats. I learnt this lesson the hard way.
Antu is a doll. As long as her input and output are taken care of, shes one happy camper.
At 7 pm on Monday, Ashu had a meltdown and said "I want Appa NOW. I want my Appa" and 2 seconds later, Hd called. Freaked me out.
Going out for groceries or to a park would ve been a lot harder. If push comes to shove, I would do that too but its tough.
The trick is to eat BEFORE Im hungry. Feed Antu and Ashu BEFORE they get hungry. God save us if we all get hungry at the same time.
I did nt ve a minute to miss Hd.
I also have a strong suspicion that when a couple stay together in a loveless marriage for the kids' sake, it actually means "to share the burden of taking care of the kids".
5 pm to 7 pm is the craziest. If I ever kill myself, it would be precisely at 6.55 pm.
The second half of The Transporter sucked. Big time.
If you were me you would ve noticed that I did nt include taking a shower in the list. Thank God Hd was gone only for 2 days! And long live deos and perfumes.
24 comments:
Your conclusion lines are a stealer... I can understand how hard it must be for you but still you have a real talent for humour.
How many ppl call you their best friend??
:) yes, yes, I guess the most imp criteria to make this work is forget about self. and am so counting on "perfect behaviour if its only me to deal with it"! but Antu's counterpart here needs to be carried aroudn all the time and doesn't sleep at long streches. so yes, like all challenges, this one looms large right now, maybe it'll become small when we're in the midst of it.
congrats on surviving with class and humor :)
Good Job Boo!!!
Isn't it strange that the elder daughter who is totally a Daddy's girl behaves well when she is totally with her Mommy?? I have seen that happen with R1 too.
Second babies are always a Happy baby...now you must be happy too seeing this statement.
The perfect behaviour is strictly saved for the time only mommies are around ... how true !!
I would have same every bit would have been the same in our house too, had the situation happened few days back. Now Junior has learnt to display her vocal talent cooing at the top of her lungs if we do not pay attention to her.
This happened as soon as she turned 5 months ... so Boo, watch out for Antu :)
LOL@last few lines. Please tell me Hd is back and you've seen the inside of a shower already....
eeps. we recently moved to malaysia.
am SO dreading the days during the 'official tour...'
in fact, my recent dream (nightmare, rather) last week was that the husband was to go on a 21 (TWENTY ONE!!!) day tour!!
did i mention that my older one doesn't conk off until 10p.m.-- *shudder*
Kudos to you Boo for managing so well, keeping up your sense of humor through all this and hope hubby is back. And I so agree with feeding self and children just before we get hungry. Your post is giving me jitters when I think about the sleep deprived nights ahead of me :( Since M and N are a bit grown up it seems a really long time since I have been through all this.
Exhausted reading this!
LOL! You are one amazing survivor. :)
*clap clap clap clap*
Well done Boo!
Good Job
and in that cold weather even with hubby around, missing a shower shld be acceptable
Well, I was wondering about the shower from the start actually but then I just assumed that given the weather, it's not an everyday thing ;-)
Am totally impressed that Ashu lets you get away with 90-minute phone conversations. Here it's meltdown mountain within minutes...
phew! i am tired already!!
you know i cant even feed Cubby his dinner aline because he needs so many distractions!! so when M travels, i tell the maid to feed him early dinner and go. this way when i get home from work we have only nice things to do with nasty feeding out of the way! :p
so i salute you and bow to thee!! :D
cheers!
abha
hahaha..nice post:)..gives me a shudder to think about a second one now ;)
congrats....this is fantastic job..did you pat yourself on your back???
Mini - Humor arrived only when Hubby arrived! ;)
Kodis mom - I could nt have carried Antu even if she wanted me to. Its an understatement if I say "my hands were full"!!
Manchus - Ashu is her own girl, M. I think she ll be happy just with Antu alone! :)
Ca - Yes, I can see the pattern already emerging. Cries are becoming calls!
altoid - Hey cant you smell my deo from there? Its super strong!
MiM - 21 days? If it happens, come to Zurich. Lets sob together!
Mnamma - Dont worry! It ll all come back to you! *evil laughter*
YY - And still you are nt here. Hmpf!
T - Barely survived, you mean?
Maggie - Thanks Gal.
Art - *giggling* Sorry. cold weather, hubby, shower,.. *giggling again*
Ro - Hey, thats only coz its my sister and shes ok with the 5 mins pauses in between! Anyone else, its mostly like 9 seconds!
Abha - And I bow back to you working moms.
Dee - Think there are three kids in the house. Then 2 kids would look like a breeze! ;)
Lavs - No pat. Took a shower instead! ;)
congrats for getting thro that! looks like u did just fine :) love ur conclusions....gaawddd, u are just so funny!!
shall i send Punch over for some training to sleep most of the day?? antu seems to be such a darling..
Hehehe! In my case, I went on a 2 day business trip to Denver, when my husband had to take of my 5-month old daughter.
Boy, did he appreciate me after those 2 days and nights :)
Your style of writing is very descriptive. I can easily see you chasing against time.
Hats off to you , Boo!
oh my! time and again, moms rise to the occasion and handle everything so darn well that rather than standing back stunned and awed, pedestaled and revered, we get taken for granted, don't we? "oh, while you are at it, can you also..." is how D starts most of the conversations these days :)
But, love your sense of humor!
Boo - you're hilarious. But I totally understanhd the chaos - here we havde my mom and grandma and A and a maid and yet by day's end A and I are wondering what happened!
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