Luke & I moved back to Newcastle from the Central Coast two weeks ago, & for the majority of that time Luke has still been staying at the Coast finishing up at his old work. I've mentioned before that our move was sudden because finding a house was quite difficult at this time of year because there are lots of people relocating for school & work, so the rental market gets quite competitive. So we didn't have a moving date set in stone for Luke to give his notice, so he handed it in when we moved and agreed to stay an extra week so the head chef could take his holidays. Which was nice for his head chef, but extremely annoying for me! I wasn't too worried about being by myself for two weeks with Romy, I spend the majority of my time with her alone while Luke is at work anyway. However, Luke does the morning bath routine while I get ready for the day, & then in the afternoons I get an hour to catch up on some stuff during his afternoon break. Which make my days run smoothly, and now that our routine has changed significantly and I am doing everything by myself, it is dawning on me just how amazing single parents are!
I don't want to offend anyone reading this and compare our situations, because they are completely different, but this time by myself has been an inspiring, personal challenge. Those single parents that do this day in and day out are just amazing! It can be extremely challenging raising a baby on the best of days, even when I have Luke to come home and relieve me of my parental responsibilities so I can run some errands in the afternoon. But to not have that, & then to be solely responsible 100% of the time for your child's every waking need, making meals, looking after yourself and maintaining a household - I don't know how you guys do it! I am normally a bit of a night owl & use my evenings to do things like drawing, making things, blogging, reading & watching box sets, but the past week or so I've been calling it a day not long after Romy goes to sleep. Aside from my week in hospital last year, I can't even remember a time where I consecutively went to bed earlier than 9 pm.
I really shouldn't complain too much though, because while this time alone has been a challenge, & it has also been a much needed personal challenge. Before we moved I rarely made meals because I'm not too sharp in the kitchen & Luke is a chef, so if I wanted to try something Luke would happily make it for me. This was something I wanted to work on post-move & I definitely have made a start on my culinary skills & feel confident to try our new things with an open mind rather than chalking it down to 'I can't cook!'. On Luke's rostered days off he has been coming to Newcastle & this week I even made him dinner for a change without any of his help & it felt really good to be able to put together a proper meal that I used a recipe for. A couple of years ago I read somewhere that you should always try & take something from each situation you find yourself in, & I definitely feel that these past couple of weeks have been a reminder that I need to stop relying on other people so much & work on becoming more independent.
