Thought I would write a little about my daily life here in Hout Bay. We are trying to get Saoirse into some sort of routine now. According to the info I read, she should be sleeping on average 10 hours at night and about 5 during the day. I can hear anyone with children laughing at that one already! Before “the routine”, she slept a solid 10 hours a night and was pretty hyper during the day, napping whenever she was exhausted, but now she is sleeping so much during the day that she has lately taken to waking very early – around 5am! Not good. I might just carry on with the old way…
So, we tend to wake early here – about 6ish as it is light very early, plus Saoirse sleeps in a cot (a very trendy yet practical travel cot/play pen my parents bought while here) in our room and tends to laugh and talk to herself (sounds like me really!) which inevitably wakes us both up too. JC heads off to the boat in the marina and I feed Saoirse. The next 10 hours are pretty much a mixture of feeding her, playing with her, soothing her if she is upset, running around doing washing whenever she does decide to sleep and once a day the walk to the shopping centre which is only a 10 minute walk from where we are renting to buy that night’s dinner. JC will come home between 6 and 7pm depending on his work load and then cook a fine meal for us both before spending some time with Saoirse and we all watch whatever is on the limited South African TV channels and head for bed usually around 10.30ish. I know that JC is working his butt off to get the boat ready for us to sail sometime in April – he is squeezing a 6 month project into a 12 week one and I know he comes home tired from a long day and then manages to cook a splendid meal and have baby time, but I have to admit, I feel drained from looking after Saoirse all day. I have a new respect and sympathy for stay at home mothers and a better understanding of my own mother. As much as I love spending time with baby S, I long for something more in my days here. It is too hot and sunny for her to spend much time outside so whenever I do walk her in her pram it is with a big black UV net filter my brother gave me wrapped around the pram. I am sure all the locals must think she has some sort of mad Irish disease and will die if she sees sunshine!!!
JC encourages me to head off and meet people, something I am normally quite good at doing. Any of you who have lived abroad will know how hard it is to do so, especially with a little baby. I bumped into an American lady who texted me the number of a woman who has a baby/ mother group in her home. Do I have to resort to such things? Is this what it means to be a stay-at-home mother? I guess I always saw myself working, even part time, so I have to admit I am finding this very hard. I even resorted to the local parish priest for help! As luck or fate would have it, our house is situated right opposite the Catholic Church in Hout Bay. After Sunday mass I wandered over to chat with the priest. Surprisingly he was not Irish. Most of the congregation were though – mainly older “swallows” as one man called himself, spending Irish winters in Hout Bay and heading back to Ireland for shockingly wet “summers”. I explained to the priest that I was here for another 3 months and would be very interested in getting involved in a part time charity/social group. I am to meet him today to see what I could do, given that I have Saoirse stuck to my side at all times. Will let you know if I find something. So that is pretty much my typical day here…