I finally know why all my friends with children had become boring.

As it turns out, having a baby and a full-time job does not leave much room for anything else. Most evenings, after the evening meal, bath time, play time and, finally, rocking baby to sleep time, I’m left with just about enough energy to either sit down and vegetate in front of the TV (mindlessly staring at yet another rerun of Big Bang Theory) or flop into bed with the good intentions of reading something, but then falling asleep halfway through scrolling through my Facebook feed. Heck, there have been evenings when I’ve been in bed with my light turned off before 8pm!

Needless to say, this doesn’t leave much time for blogging. Or writing my novel, or organizing my closet, or editing my photos or any of the other 101 things on my to-do list. So in the interests of full disclosure, please note that blogging will be a little sporadic until I’ve managed to carve some me-time out of the new baby-centric daily routine.

At least we’ve managed to squeeze in one holiday this year so far. Before I returned to work, and just after Gareth quit his job to become a full-time daddy, the three of us packed the car to the brim and escaped to Crystal Springs near Sabie for a week.

Crystal-Springs-Cabin

I wish I could regale you with interesting stories from this trip, but the truth is, we didn’t do anything. It wasn’t so much a holiday as a change of scenery. We literally drove into the resort on Monday and drove out again on Friday. We spent most of the week learning what it’s like to be away from home with a 3-month old baby displaced from his comfort zone. Not easy, let me tell you!

Aidan-Crystal-Springs

The highlight of the week was the morning baby slept in his pushchair while Gareth and I played a round of mini golf, followed by a game of table tennis and a bit of pool. I also snuck away that afternoon for a back and shoulder massage that fixed things that had not been as they should be ever since the pregnancy. Apart from that, our days were spent inside the cabin, in front of the fireplace, entertaining a baby. At least the wildlife were kind enough to walk right past our window early in the morning and just before sunset.

Gareth-Aidan-Woods

 

Gareth-Aidan-MiniGolf

So – does having a baby change one’s lifestyle? It sure does. We’re still learning to adapt to him and to his needs, to get up early over weekends for a morning feed, to find ways to make the most of his nap time. I’m sure we’ll get there eventually.

But for now, we might just be a little bit boring too.