Home alone

Only a stay-at-home-mum (SAHM) will truly understand and appreciate how difficult it is to look after small kids on your own and still manage the household. Note it is kids, so I am referring to the plural form since I think managing ONE kid is really no biggie. And I mean, completely on your own, without any maids, helpers, grandparents, nannies or village help of any sorts....

Granted, with the hubby around, it is some form of help. So for most SAHMs, there will be some form of help from hubby too. The problem is most hubbies only help out on selected tasks and very, very few fathers can really do EVERYTHING when it comes to looking after their kids and still manage the household. They either can't wash their dishes well, or can't/hate do housework, or they will feed their kids junk since they can't find time to cook/can't be bothered to, or they will miss the kids' mealtimes, or they will just let the kids watch TV all day long if the childminding gets too tough, or they just won't be bothered to wash the kids' clothes and let them wear the same smelly clothes for 3 straight days and convert their toilet trained toddlers back to nappy wearing since it is much easier to throw away a soiled nappy than to deal with soiled underpants and wet floors.... and blah blah...

For a couple of days last week, I had the challenge of looking after both my boys all alone, without the husband who was away on business trip, no maid (since I sacked my last one) and no village help. Just the 3 of us. It was a challenge nonetheless to attend to the children's needs all on my own, manage some light housework and still ensure we all have some nutritious food at every meals. Of course I made simple fare but I am sure a nutritionist won't fault me on my selections. I kept the boys happy and throughout the week, they only watched TV once for an hour and we still managed to go for strolls twice for an hour each. The boys had their daily baths, played as usual, napped and had plenty of cuddles, kisses and love.. I managed to put both boys to sleep at normal bedtimes too.

I wish I have a double stroller, like the Phil & Teds so we can venture to malls, parks etc... but oh well, I made do with what we have and stayed indoors to do whatever I could with them. The days passed, we survived pretty well and I wasn't even grumpy which was a surprise for me. I was tired though, physically, from lack of sleep. But I love the fact that there is no invasion to our privacy too.

In those days, I contemplated not getting another maid. After all, my boys are getting older, so easier to manage. In a few months, Marcus can attend full day school should I wish to, and Nicholas will be walking and eating same food as us. I can always get PT help again, and just buy a double stroller so we can go out on our own. Hmm.. it is all too tempting..

But after 14 months of having someone in the house attending to the not-so-interesting chores, I also come to terms that there are plenty of advantages to engage one. For a mere $10 daily salary, we are technically buying 10 hours of someone's time and energies which could be channelled into doing the things that I am not fond of doing or rather not do, so in exchange, I could be with my loved ones, rest, or do things I like. So we hired another one. Which is why I have a little time again to blog and sit down for a cuppa.