Familiar but different #2

Mum and bub came home yesterday. I had a couple of nights without the Captain onboard while she healed up in hospital. While I managed to not steer us into any sea stacks or incur any major catastrophe on the home front, the journey still had a few snags.

I struggled with managing how to get so many things done throughout small windows of the day. I’m used to managing varying unannounced tasks in minuscule timeframes in a workplace environment but doing so at home with tasks I was inexperienced with proved to be a far greater challenge. I had taken for granted how groceries and meals end up in the fridge or cooked and served on a plate. I didn’t appreciate the strategic nuances required to collect ironing, pick up groceries, manage meals, fold and put away clothes, ensure little people are eating healthily and maintaining good hygiene among the 101 jobs required to keep a ship afloat. The Captain was on other duties for only two days but our ship looked like it had been lost at sea for several weeks.

I didn’t get all the tasks done while she was on onshore leave. I don’t know how I could have but it is done every time the Captain has the helm. I think I need to pay more attention to how she does it?

I had left the task of installing the baby seat till the morning I was to collect them. No problem, I thought. I’ve done this half a dozen times now so it’ll be easy or so I thought… it wasn’t.

The first issue was I woke up and my back had decided it wanted to add an extra challenge to the day. For some reason whenever I have a newborn (figuratively speaking) my back decides to go out. I think it could be sympathy pains but the Captain thinks it’s my way of trying to get out of scrubbing the deck and escaping other chores.

Working out which buckle goes into which hole and how the pram goes up and down. It was like trying to build a transformer!

I eventually installed the baby capsule, figured out the workings of the pram and collected my precious cargo. The Captain and bub are now at home resting and I’m so glad they’re back. I’ll keep working the deck but it’s nice knowing the captain is here for advice and guidance to keep us floating in the right direction.

PDR