Sunrise was at 7:01am today.
6:45 - Wake to hear Princess burbling to herself. Lie still for 5 minutes enjoying the warm bed, then get up. Milord gets up too and goes to change Princess while I prepare her a bottle. I have a lingering chest cold, but feel a bit better than yesterday. Princess also has a bit of a cough, but seems better than me!
7am - Princess cuddles in my arms drinking her milk while Milord showers and dresses and I watch the morning news on telly. Milord makes me a cup of coffee, eats a bowl of cereal, and leaves for work. If it is a nice day he cycles to the city, otherwise he catches the train (train today). Put Princess on her mat to play for a bit while I watch the rest of the news. Our Prime Minister looks to be ousted by his party today! Wow.
8:30 - Prepare Princess some breakfast: weetbix in warm milk with chopped tinned fruit. Make myself a cup of tea and toast and feed her in the highchair while listening to an audiobook (just finishing the last Harry Potter).
9am - Princess is getting sleepy. Pop her in her rocker in front of an episode of Tellytubbies. Clean kitchen and wash dishes.
9:30 - Put Princess to bed. She grumbles but is asleep within 10 minutes. Shower and dress for the day. Despair that nothing fits. Sweep floors - where does all the dust and fluff come from?! Check email - someone I love is very ill. Feel completely helpless at being stuck on the opposite side of the planet.
10:15 - Princess is calling. Usually she will nap for longer but it seems a poo has disturbed her sleep. Change nappy, dress her in a long-sleeved bodysuit and padded pink combat pants, socks and cardigan. Adorable. We play on the spare double bed for a while - she kicks and rolls and squeals and I plant raspberries and squeal back!
11am - Pop Princess in the pram and head out to run errands. Stop to chat to a neighbour. The fish shop has salmon on special and I buy a whole 1.5kg (3lb) salmon for just $7 for dinner... I've never cooked a whole salmon before so it will be an experiment! Maybe with an asparagus risotto on the side? Buy asparagus, onions, and a few other staples. Get interviewed on the street by a journalist about the change of Prime Minister and wish I paid more attention to politics!
11:45 - Princess is grumbling - it's her lunchtime. Hand her a teething rusk to keep her going and visit the post office. I want to send off Princess' passport application but I need to make an appointment to have the documents checked... I'll have to come back in the afternoon. I also pick up a parcel - my Dad has sent me a fitness DVD of 10-minute workouts for the midriff! Awesome, thanks Dad! Now I have no excuse...
12:00 - Visit the bottle shop. One of the more palatable box wines is on special. Shove 4L of wine under the pram and try not to feel like a terrible mother!
12:15 - Home. Hoik heavily laden pram up the front steps and roll it over an old towel a few times to get off most of the dirt before wheeling it through the house. I love wooden floors! Unload groceries and move Princess directly to her highchair. She's not happy - lunch is much later than usual! Cut open an avocado, break a slice of wholegrain bread into morsels and feed her bites of bread and avocado. I offer water in a shot glass from time to time and she slurps it down messily. When she loses interest I offer some banana, but she's full. I eat the rest of the avocado on wholegrain toast and finish the banana with a cup of tea, while Princess plays with small toys in her highchair (ie. I pick them up repeatedly).
1pm - Princess smells bad. I change a poopy nappy but she is still grumbling. I wonder if she's tired? I zip her into her sleeping bag and put her to bed. 15 mins later she is asleep! Her nap schedule is totally off today, but it should mean that my trip back to the post office will work out well.
1:45 - Princess is calling. More poo. Oh well, better than constipated I suppose!
2:15 - Head off to the post office again. Get my documentation rejected because I've used blue ink instead of black. Bugger.
2:45 - Home. Princess is whinging. Make her a bottle and she snuggles in my lap while she drinks it. We have a quiet conversation of "gagaga" "dadada" and tongue clicks before I decide to see if she'll sleep again. She needs 2 hours of naps during the day and she's only had about 1 hour.
3:30 - Princess is in bed. I reckon she was almost asleep when hordes of horrid teens from the horrid highschool down the road came screaming and swearing up the road, like they do every afternoon. Now she's grumbling... hopefully she can resettle herself. What is wrong with some teens? I was never like that.
3:40 - update. The teen noise got so bad I went to peek out the front window and saw police cars and kids being forcibly restrained. Further down the road someone is on the ground having blankets tucked around them. I amble up the street to speak to a neighbour and he says there was a brawl happening so he called the cops. Luckily the police station is literally on the other side of the road from us! Back indoors Princess is very awake but I kiss her and leave her in bed in the hope she can fall asleep. If not then we are in for a dreadful evening!
3:50 - Princess is singing. I am looking up fish recipes.
4:15 - Princess is still complaining. Oh dear, looks like we are in for a cranky evening. I'm going to leave her until 4:45 and pray she drops off (she isn't screaming, just grumbling). Why can I never find a recipe that sounds right when I buy an experimental dinner? What I want is a whole fish, still soft but flaking in the middle, with crispy skin all over, done in an oven. I have some inspiration anyway, so I'll go prep the fish now and make Milord's sandwiches for tomorrow.
4:30 - Silence. Phew. I wash the fish and pat it dry and stuff the cavity with lots of garlic, some fennel seeds, 2 bay leaves and salt and pepper. I make a few shallow cuts in the skin and rub it with salt and pepper. Put on baking paper in a roasting tray and put in the fridge.
5pm - Princess wakes up really grumpy. I don't blame her! I change her (more poo!) and put her in her highchair. Hmm, a bit short on homemade babyfood. All I have ready is mashed pumpkin, sweet potato and carrot, and some alphabet "soup" pasta. Oh well, mix it together and heat and it goes down just fine.
5:30 - Princess is still grumpy. I give her a cuddle on the couch.
5:45 - Milord comes home. I love it when I hear him arriving home! He tries to take Princess for a cuddle but she wails until I take her back again... This happens most days, but she gets over it eventually and lets her dad hold her.
6pm - I prepare Princess' bath, give her a wipedown on a cushion of towels on the heated bathroom floor, then put her in the water. Now she's happy! She chews on rubber toys and kicks and splashes and sings. Milord perches himself at the end of the bath, I pour us each a glass of wine, and I sit on the toilet lid and chat to him for a while.
6:45 - Milord dries Princess and dresses her in her pyjamas. I make a small bottle of milk and Milord gives it to Princess while watching the evening news.
7pm - I put the fish into the oven (preheated to 200C) and set the timer for 20 min, then knock together the asparagus risotto. When the timer goes off I carefully turn the fish over and reset the timer for 15 min.
7:30 - I take Princess to bed. I leave her light on low and her door open and as I walk away she is playing with a small soft toy. I join Milord in front of the tv.
7:45 - Serve the fish and risotto. The fish flesh is white! That's not right - this is nothing like salmon. It's nice, but I was really looking forward to pink buttery flakes of salmon, not this white and slightly dry fish. Milord thinks it's lovely and goes back for seconds. I'm very disappointed and don't bother. On the upside it's a lot less fattening than salmon would have been I suppose. We watch a couple of recorded tv shows, including a new Dr Who. I don't think I like the new Doctor, and Milord doesn't like his companion!
8:30 - I can still hear Princess singing to herself. I turn her light a bit lower.
9pm - Princess is still awake. I go in and she's looking very happy but totally exhausted as it is now 2 hours past her bedtime. Silly little thing. I turn off the light and close her door and hope she can get to sleep.
10pm - We are all asleep.
Friday...
I coughed a lot during the night and wake up a bit tired. Princess looks shattered too. Hopefully today's naps go a bit better!
