Single Parenting

DH left for ten days in Greece yesterday so I'm single parenting at the moment. This is only the second time I've done it for more than a day or two and the last time Lia was only five months old so it's a while ago.

I wasn't bothered about it as I'm more than capable of looking after her on my own, but what has caught me out is her constant requests for Daddy. He left last night before her bed time so when I put her to bed she kept asking for him and this morning when I'd gotten her dressed she ran into our room calling for him and then looking confused when he wasn't in the bed.

She's too little to understand if I try to explain he'll be gone for a while so I guess I'm going to have to deal with her looking for him every day. Thankfully we're off in a couple of days to spend Easter with my family so that should distract her a bit. She doesn't seem bothered that he's not around - I think it bothers me listening to her more.

So what else is going on? Well the sleeping in a real bed is having mixed success - we've got a stairgate across her door and she tends to get out of bed and lie down in the doorway next to the gate. A couple of times now we've found her there asleep and have put her back in bed - the first time I did what any normal parent would do and took photos before moving her. LOL

Oh and that's Gung-Gah she's got with her...

She doesn't cry, she just gets up and sits by the door. We deal with it by going up and telling her to get back in bed (which she does) and then leaving. Nine times out of ten she's up and out of bed again within seconds but there's no way we're going to sit with her to keep her in the bed as that will just result in a whole different set of problems.

When she's really tired she stays put but as she's still napping during the day she's often not quite tired enough. It's difficult as she still needs a daytime nap so I guess we'll just keep on till she learns. At least she's not wailing and complaining.

In other news my nephew is home with his parents and seems to be doing well. I still haven't seen a photo but DH has promised to send some asap now he's out there. I've spoken to my SIL a couple of times and she seems to be adjusting to life as a new Mum. I think she's finding it hard because she's used to there being a yes or no answer to everything (she's a lawyer) and the one thing you realise when you're a parent is that there is never a right or a wrong way to do things, you just have to make a decision as to what is best for you and the baby and go with it.

Still, he's less than two weeks old so there's plenty of time for her to adjust.

I'm still waiting on news of two more babies. One was due on 30th March and one is due 7th April. The latter is my godson's baby bro or sis and I'm so excited - somehow it is much more fun when you don't know what's coming out.

In stitching news, I'm working on Cat's Whiskers Peacock Chair. The kit arrived on Friday and I spent Friday night gridding the fabric and making a start on the stitching. I love this design and my new found confidence for finishing things is going to be tested to the max with this one.

I have two other Cat's Whiskers projects that I want to do too - Grandma's Thread Minder and The Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag and there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything!

I've made good progress on Dimensions' Sleigh Ride:

Unfortunately all my big WIPs - Sleigh Ride, Noah's Sub and Cut Thru Igloo - have loads of blue so I get bored with them quite quickly. Still, at least I don't feel bad about focussing on the Cat's Whiskers designs instead