Hi everyone, I’m Mel from Armoire, Pegs and Casserole and I’m so pleased to be guest blogging for Elodie while she takes some time to get to know her beautiful baby. I have three small children myself and know how precious these first few weeks are to adjust into new routines. It’s also the time when we need those around us to lend a hand and offer support. While I can’t drop a home cooked meal into Elodie, as I live far away in New Zealand, one of the things I can do is offer a little advice.
Last night I had one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time. It was a date with my three kids. Their “Papa” and my husband, is away on business at the moment, so to make us feel his absence a little less, we had a movie night. I ordered pizza, bought ice cream, turned the iPhone off and the four of us snuggled under a blanket on the couch and watched the original version of Annie, a movie I had watched when I wasn’t much older than my eldest boy who is six this year. Apart from the wonderful feeling of us cuddling uninterrupted for a couple of hours, I revelled in the expressions of each of their little faces through the various scenes and the questions they asked. Like clockwork, they belly laughed at everything I found so funny when I was young and they looked in wonder at the song and dance routines. I’m more aware of these little moments lately because I realised that I haven’t been doing them. While I would take the kids to the park or the beach, I wouldn’t be completely “there” with them because there would always be the distraction of my iPhone. At home while I might be building a train track or Lego village, I’d get up every so often to look at my MacBook that’s always sitting open on the kitchen table.
Many of us a guilty of this, I’m not writing about anything new here. The common theme during conversations with friends who had their first child around the same time as me is that we just don’t seem to be giving our kids the same amount of attention as we once did. It’s not the hours we’re giving them; it’s the percentage of “us” we’re giving them while we’re doing it. I believe this could be even more prevalent for us bloggers who work from home and often in our “spare” time. The catalyst for this awareness came when I read an interview with Si from French By Design on SF Girl By Bay; she mentioned that she tries to have tech free weekends to dedicate to the family. I thought this was such a fantastic idea, yet I found it rather interesting how uncomfortable I felt with the concept. Perhaps I could start with just Sundays? So I guess my little piece advice for Elodie and any new mums to keep in the back of their minds for a little time down the track when their babies grow: Take the time for yourselves, that is without saying ever so important, but when it’s your little ones’ time, turn off the computers, put away the iPads and phones. Just stop, be there and enjoy. Your kids will feel it, and so will you.
Congratulations Elodie, you’re in for the most magnificent ride of your life!