Well parenting is hard. More difficult than I imagined really, and I thought it seemed pretty difficult. I have newfound appreciation or maybe even reverence for my parents. I think that instead of flowers and ties every Mother and Father’s day I should have been buying my parents cruises to the Bahamas or Lamborghinis. At this point in time, it is really difficult for me to fathom how it is possible to raise more than one child. I can’t even imagine having twins.
And it’s not just the lack of sleep either – I know that was the main thing I’d imagined caused difficulty. But its so much more than that. On top of the fact that you’re already drained from pregnancy and the birth process, there are so many things that come with caring for a newborn.
My normal day is now mostly taken up by breastfeeding in some form. Breastfeeding infants eat 8 to 12 times a day. My little guy is a slow eater (probably because of the nipple shield I have to use) so breastfeeding sessions take somewhere between 15 minutes and an hour. If he’s cluster feeding, there are more sessions than usual. I also have to pump in between sessions which is time consuming. Aside from breastfeeding, diaper changes take up the next chunk of my time. Yesterday we changed his diaper 12 times (that we remembered to record). After diaper changes I spend my time cleaning & sanitizing breast pump parts and nipple shields and doing laundry (he can soil many outfits a day, plus any towels or covers I get dirty while feeding or bathing him. After that I finally spend time playing with him or determining why he’s upset. Then if I’m lucky I’ll have some time left to tidy up the house, and maybe shower. And finally if there is anything left it is time to sleep.
The biggest problem with all this infant time is that breastfeeding doesn’t take much thinking after you get him latched, and right now for me it usually involves both hands. This means it is a fairly boring task and as adorable as the little guy is, sitting around watching him feed is not overly stimulating. Martha Stewart has solved this problem for me! I have started watching clips and reruns of old Martha episodes on YouTube while I feed Julius. I think he’s started to get used to it to the point where if he were ever to meet Martha in person, he would take an instant liking to her.
Well here’s a craft project Martha could put on her show! A simple zippered pillow case! I made this for the rocker in Julius’ nursery and I have been using it while I breastfeed.
Simple Zippered Pillow
What you’ll need:
- 1/2 yard of material of your choice
- 16″x16″ pillow form
- 9″ zipper (or use any size up to 14″ zipper)
- Cut your 1/2 yard of material into two 17″x17″ squares.
- Place fabric squares right sides together and pin. Stitch two sides of the pillow.
Pin pillow together.
- Baste 3rd side of the pillow.
- Lay out your zipper on top of the basted side. Mark 1/2″ out from the where the teeth end and begin. Stitch from edge of pillow to this mark on either side along your basting line, leaving the stitching inside these markings as just basting.
Place zipper on basted side of pillow., right side down. Mark 1/2″ above and below the start and end of the zipper teeth and reinforce by stitching to this marking from either end of the pillow over your basting.
- Pin your zipper in between the markings you made in above step, face down. With a zipper foot baste around the zipper.
- Remove the basting in between your markings. Unzip the zipper and stitch around the zipper to secure fully.
Remove basting in between zipper opening. Stitch with zipper foot all around zipper.
- Stitch 4th side.
- Turn right side out through the zipper.
Turn right side out through zipper.
- Insert pillow form through the zipper opening.
Finished zippered pillow sitting on our glider!
