Just a mom with the will to survive

Yes, I had junk food for lunch, but I also got two children to nap. Simultaneously. 

Gwen will be three weeks old on Thursday, and somehow I have managed to escape taking care of my children on my own for more than a couple of hours - until today. I've been nervously counting down the days until this Tuesday, wondering if I could really rise to the challenge of two children, especially with the challenges that a newborn and a two year-old both hold.

I woke up this morning with "Eye of the Tiger" from the movie Rocky firmly stuck on my brain - the penultimate motivational anthem.  I crawled out from under my covers, looked those two tiny people firmly in the eyes, then fed us all our respective breakfasts. Then, when Nick had left for work, I sat down and made myself a list of goals for the day - my first day on my own:

1. Eat
2. Shower
3. Do laundry
4. Make dinner
5. Help Espen to nap
6. blog

It's a little list, but it includes all of the things I just couldn't figure out how to do on my own the last time I had a newborn. I think, on my first day alone with Espen, I survived on the occasional fistful of dry cereal. I am absolutely confident I didn't shower, because I just didn't know how to leave that little body alone and unwatched for more than a few seconds at a time. What if he needed me? No laundry or blogging happened, and I am quite sure that I cried piteously for dinner when Nick got home from work. Motherhood came very naturally to me, and my little Espen was very well cared for. I just didn't how to care for myself or anything else at the same time. 

I am realizing that this time I am much more equipped to deal with this new situation. I know how to take care of a newborn, I know how to be Espen's mother, and I am quickly learning how to be Gwen's. The equation may have a few more variables this time, but it's basically the same as before. I know this. I can do this. 

We've had our sticky moments already, I and I can absolutely guarantee you there will be more before the day is over. But I have eaten (a slice of pizza and a muffin). I have showered (while Gwen fussed in her bed and Espen played with the iPad). A load of laundry is going, and (fingers crossed!) both children are taking naps as I type this blogpost. Dinner will very likely come out of a bag from the freezer, but gosh darn it all, folks, I am doing it!

*Power stance.*