Nothing Much

Since the last post, nothing much has happened. I have been figuring out what it's like to be on maternity leave for real - not working, but still doing laundry, cleaning and cooking. So far so good, but it's only been five days, and two of those were weekend days and Matt was here...

We have been interviewing people a lot, and it has helped to think about the next person in terms of a nanny for Samara rather than a maid. We would love to find someone who loves babies and can really enjoy being with her and keep her safe and happy (and if they can do anything with her development, that would be great too...). Any housework or cooking they can do will be a plus. We have found one woman in particular who seems great. She is taking care of two kids right now, one is autistic and the other was newborn when she went to live with that family, and she was definitely the most capable person we have interviewed so far. We'll see, but hopefully we'll have this situation sorted out sooner than later. We think it's a buyer's market for ex-pats looking for helpers (we're generally a lot more flexible and loose than the local families, so there are plenty of people who would work for us), so we just have to find the right one and not make some of the same mistakes we made last time.

We were awful parents and put ourselves first for three nights in a row, and there seems to be no consequence (which incentivises us to do it again...). Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights we took Samara to friends' houses and put her to sleep there. Thursday was not so successful, but Friday and Saturday she went straight to bed and slept until we took her home. Then I just fed her and put her back to sleep, and she slept like a champ. I super appreciate this flexibility, so our social life does not have to suffer too much. Just kidding...probably soon it won't be so easy. We even got two nights of Settlers in, which was my first time since giving birth. A milestone.

Today is Samara's three month birthday. We had planned to get coffee and walk to the library to return some books, but it started pouring (Samara looked like she was in shock - apparently the sun shade on her carseat/stroller is NOT also water-proof). So, we went grocery shopping instead. Buying a big thing of toilet paper, two big packages of diapers, other groceries, plus the library books to return and her carrier (always need the baby carrier in case she flips out in the stroller...) was NOT easy. I got lots of sympathy looks from people.

In the meantime, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Samara's uncle Jeremy who arrives tomorrow night.