Slowing down

A typical day BB (before baby) would see me speak to dozens of different people at work, negotiate a busy commute, cram in a social life and a home life.

Since Otis was born I regularly just speak to him and my husband, and hours are spent on my sofa feeding, or walking around the house swaying, or pram walking around the city streets.

I used to have only a few minutes for contemplation every day, now I have hours.
Strangely though time is even more precious - I am lucky to have enough time away from Otis to load the washing machine or dishwasher or take a bath. Household chores and the freedom to do them are not to be taken for granted.

And the adjustment to the new pace hasn't been without trouble, I have at bad times felt welded to Otis and unable to operate as a single unit which can be frustrating
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But I certainly don't resent the time spent shared with my baby, this is unique time which happens only at the start of his life, I know that and I'm glad to have the fortune to be able to enjoy it. Every day he changes, from that first smile to his current obsession with staring at his own hands.

Because of this differing pace I look at things differently, when you're forced to slow down you do. I have more appreciation of the everyday, the so-called mundane.

It's a meditative experience walking around with a baby in your arms and showing him the world, watching him feed, seeing his eyes look up at you with love and trust.

Since Otis' birth I am reading more books, watching more Fraiser (on at 8.30am every morning, a happy discovery) but most of all I have contemplation time to fall even more in love with my husband and son and feel the completeness that being part of a family has brought me.