Working & Studying avec Bébé

Serging with Sprout October 2010.

I've been working at home for nearly a year now (sewing for my Etsy shop & craft fairs, plus getting stilting costumes together), studying for my university courses since January & now Oli's returned to work, doing so from home a couple days a week.

Getting sewing done last year was pretty easy, as Sprout slept most of the time still. A year later, doing anything involving pins, sharp shears & hot irons is complicated & mostly gets done while Sprout is sleeping or immobilized in his highchair for meals. 

Papa does some database report modification.

Studying is more complicated. It's very hard to concentrate when part of my brain has to be constantly monitoring what he's up to. That part that reacts when, for example, I don't  hear anything for a while. Last time Sprout was silent too long, I found him on top of the toilet seat, dumping baking soda all over the bathroom & himself. 

Then there are the times when he just needs to be held & we have to figure out a way to work around that. Sometimes just cuddling or breastfeeding him can be combined with reading or typing. Other times wearing him in the Beco carrier works. I think being strapped in has a calming effect like swaddling did & being close to us, he just feels better.

To be honest, though, we are lucky because he'll play by himself for hours a day, tearing apart our tupperware collection, emptying the kitchen shelves of dry goods, hiding wooden blocks all over the house & whacking anything he finds on the floor repeatedly.