These days I tend to think a lot
About the things that I forgot
To do.

And all the time I had
The chance to...

- nico, "these days"

(That is the anthem of new motherhood. At least for me.)

We both had a much better day today, thank you very much. Everyone felt sorry for me, so I had late-night babysitting between feedings. This is crucial because if I can get a few hours right at the beginning, I can face the rest of the night without wanting to chuck the baby out the window. Of course, it took 13 hours to get something approximating an adult's night sleep, but for the first time this week I started the day without a sleep deprivation headache. Marvellous.

And for what am I using my new-found energy? Tiny home decorating projects. Moving into this basement has been an ongoing project since my last month of pregnancy, but I'm happy to report that we're actually doing better here than we did in Toronto. There were a lot of things that just stayed in boxes that whole 16 months, and that includes just about everything we used to decorate the walls in Nova Scotia. (I'm pretty sure that I could've got more done if I hadn't been miserably depressed & gobsmacked by the workload of teaching. But, you know.)

Today I hung a poster over the bed, a bunch of dried Valentine's roses over the new dresser and a little picture of myself & the baby over the light switches. Next stop – the Boy gets a corkboard! And our kitchen gets a blind!

Funny story about that last one: we have a huge window in between the kitchen and the bedroom. Like, with glass and everything. It was there when we moved in. Since our bedroom used to be Nic's drumroom, there used to be some idle talk about making that into a recording room – but that never happened. Now that we live down here, it's taken on the spirit of a lab window. Except for the double-sided mirror, we're all set up for behaviourist experiments.

In truth, the window's a huge pain in the ass. It's clear glass so that anyone coming down the stairs has a marquee view of the bedroom. You can imagine the French farce that could be staged here. For months I've been planning to install our long curtains in the kitchen side, but I've been a little too distracted with the baby to follow through. Two days ago, my dad got home from work in the middle of the afternoon and bounded down the stairs without announcing himself. Of course, I was changing, and thus completely nude. Holy embarrassment.

(Actually, I wasn't too embarrassed. I don't have very much body modesty; haven't since I gave birth. There's just something about 13 hours of pelvic exams and stitches that need to "air dry" for weeks that takes away shyness. Finally, my new habit of going partially topless in public took away any residual shame. I'd say I'm an exhibitionist, but it's more like I just don't care.)

Anyway, getting a window covering suddenly became top priority in the house, and yesterday my father impetuously bought a really big blind. And although I didn't much care about the big hole in my privacy, I think I'll like having it fixed.

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- Rocketbride's adventure of 3/03/2004 06:52:00 p.m.