“Guys, having a child is hard.”– Matthew Savides, July 27, 2017
I tweeted this at 1.12am as a coughing and under the weather Alice May Savides decided it was a great idea to be wide awake with me. A short while afterwards I posted a pic of Alice and I in that not-sleeping-but-really-should-be state, and I captioned it with how much I missed sleep. Man, I miss sleep.
The two posts came on a Thursday morning that followed about a week of me not sleeping more than three or four hours a night thanks to a seven-month-old who just didn’t like the idea of shut-eye. She would be up early for the day, or just awake frequently through the night. I had multiple sense of humour failures over those few days. If Red Bull ever wanted an amabasador…I’d be THE MAN.
Guys, having a child is hard .
Now make no doubt, it’s very worth it and I wouldn’t change it for the world (more on that in a future post). But the particularly difficult weeks that made up July got me thinking about the things that I have missed about my pre-Alice life:
Firstly, as I’ve said already, I really, really miss sleep.
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Having spent a few nights in Joburg recently and getting the chance to sleep through the night, it made me realise just how much I should have appreciated the sleep I used to get – and I’m not even a particularly good sleeper at the best of times. But just to be able to get through a night without waking up… man, that’s just bliss. I really should have appreciated it more.
And I also miss not being on edge all the time.
Peeps, I don’t think I’ve ever felt as on edge as I do now that Alice is in my life – and I’m not a highly strung, anxious or stressful person at all. In fact, Megan and I are among the most chilled parents I can think of. We’ve only taken her to the doc three times, and one of those was her mandatory 6-month check up with the pead. Both other times were for a throat infection. But that doesn’t mean that my heart doesn’t race when Alice coughs or when she has the sniffles or a blocked nose at night. She came home the other day with a bump on her head from school, and I didn’t sleep all night because I had to check up on her in case the worse happened. Having a kid means I’m on edge all the time, and it’s tough.
Ah, time. How I miss having time.
If you thought you were busy before having a child, you were wrong. I don’t know what I used to do with my hours before Alice was born. Now, just to fit in a gym session I have to be up before 5am (because I try to help get Alice ready for school every morning, and it hurts my soul to get home after she’s gone to sleep). Trying to get places on time is difficult as I find myself running late because I made sure Alice was sorted first. When you have a kid, your time isn’t yours, and you can feel it.
It’s a weird one…but I miss not being grossed out by things.
Poo and puke are just normal now (I wrote about how your child will turn you into an idiot who goes to work with vom stains on your clothing and about how you’ll become obsessed with poo). The other day Alice made a poo as I was changing her. A lovely log. So I caught it in my hand with a wet wipe and threw it away. Didn’t want to waste a perfectly good nappy, you know. And the other day Alice spewed a little on my work shirt sleeve – but I went to work in that same shirt anyway. I wish I was grossed out by these things more…but they’re just so normal now.
Lastly, and maybe this is just me, but I miss not listening to the same 10 songs over and over again.
I’ve created the Ali’s Playlist on Apple Music. It’s 10 songs that help her fall asleep (generally). But I really wish that there were more song on the playlist, or that I can update it. Nope. Alice doesn’t like other songs – or, at least, other songs don’t seem to work. I miss my music. But it could be worse. Let me end this post by sharing my colleague Nivashni’s story:
If you haven’t heard the song she’s referring to, here it is:
Are there things you miss since your child came into your live? Hit me up in the comments, or over on my Facebook page. Or you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram or at ‘matthewsavides’ on Snapchat.
The Good, The Bad and The Daddy 