I am back from an exhausting 5 days in Florida. I traveled with my oldest, extremely disorganized daughter and her 7 week old son. Just getting through airport security - carry ons, baby, diaper bag, breast pumps, breast milk, etc. - was a keystone cop comedy in itself.
My youngest daughter had to return to work after her maternity leave and we were there to help out before her 5 month old son would start daycare the following week. Two adults, two babies. Not a good ratio.
The first night my oldest daughter developed mastitis with a high fever and a lot of pain. She could barely move, much less nurse or otherwise take care of her babe. So I spent the night bottle feeding babies, changing diapers, helping my daughter with hand pump and hot packs.
Once she got antibiotics she recovered quickly but still needed to constantly hand pump, leaving limited extra hands for child care. Now it was just me with two babies on totally different sleep schedules. I love my daughters. I love my grandsons. But I am getting too old for this.
The return flight couldn’t come fast enough for me. Literally, as we just squeaked in before a major northeast storm. Home sweet home.
I am still recuperating from the chaos and enjoying my dull routines, like drinking a cup of coffee while it is still hot, taking a shower, not being up at 2 am, and not having to constantly wipe baby drool off my shoulder. Simple pleasures.
I am also back to tend my seedlings. Petunias have extremely tiny seeds and it is difficult to tell how many are planted in each tray. So I have returned to this -
I have to start weeding out the extra seedlings, down to only one. It is like Sophia’s Choice to me as I mourn each and every little sprout that must go.
A mother’s, grandmother’s, gardener’s life is exhausting but in the end, very rewarding.
