34
Today Kat came to stay with us for a while...well she got here yesterday technically. But after all day traveling, took some much needed sleep and started really helping out today! She was very helpful yesterday though too! Even in her sleep deprived state of mind.
My first mother's day with Aurora was pretty good. Aurora slept in (didn't wake up until 7am!! instead of her usual 6am). Kat came down for breakfast and played with Aurora around 10a, so I could go do the laundry. That was nice, it made it a bit easier not having to get Aurora all dressed for cool weather and hiking down with her in the carrier and the laundry bucket. Aurora totally loves Kat, which is pretty superific!
I posted a video today about our new helper Kat and got some flak from people saying "I couldn't let someone else care for my child". It's funny to me though, because if they lived out here in the forest with no instant gratification machines and products, I think having a "helper" wouldn't seem like such a horrible thing. I think it would be one thing if I was sitting around in the house all day, letting a washing machine do my laundry, an oven cook my food and all the water and electricity magically pipe in to my home. But that isn't how it works here, as I showed in one example of doing the laundry. If we didn't have a helper this is how the scenario of getting the laundry would play out...
I would have to ask J to watch her, which may not seem like a big deal until you consider that the 30 minutes it might take me (on a quick wash day) to do the wash only part, he could have been working on fixing the building that collapsed over the winter, or collecting wood or collecting 5 gallons of water. Things I cannot do by myself, let alone with a baby in the carrier. We also can't leave her alone in the dome while we are out on the property getting things done or have her sitting on the ground wherever we are banging and hammering on things. Though we do try to put her in the carrier and tote her around when we have slower days, usually I'm the one carrying her and am pretty much useless to do anything else, so having a helper also takes some of the chores from J, that I can't do while I'm carrying Aurora or just spending time with her, like collecting water and wood. Kat may spend an hour or two playing with Aurora total in one day and that is spreading it out over the entire day, but mostly is helping us get chores and projects finished, while I care for her. It helps ease the load.
I don't see this as a problem, nor do I think it is depriving Aurora of anything. When Kat is in charge of Aurora, she usually follows me around with her as I go about doing things, so that I can talk to her and get my work done, or Kat helps along side me so that I can get my work done faster or just so I can spend time with Aurora without the worry of "when am I going to find time to do (insert chore here) since Aurora has only taken one 30 minute nap today?"