Stonehenge

Our first long-ish trip with Baby Aryan was on a hot summer’s day, the last of June ‘18. We visited the prehistoric English heritage site of Stonehenge, located an hour away from Southampton. Aryan had just hit three weeks that day; English weather had hit a whopping 30 degrees.

We started out three hours later than initially planned: as all new mums know, this is as relatable as it gets. Neither baby nor his mum had slept too well at night. I blame it on all his Grobags going to laundry at the same time (I KNEW we needed more Grosnugs at hand – they have been a godsend) leaving poor Aryan rather shoddily swaddled by his rookie (and sleepy) mum and dad. Life hacks look so much easier on YouTube, sigh.

Come morning I was spent. But I was also determined to not let the weekend slip away. I had to adopt innovative ideas to get dressed, cradling Aryan in one arm while dabbing on copious amounts of concealer with the other. I was lucky enough to get ten minutes to tend to my post pregnancy lacklustre hair as Aryan allowed himself to lounge in his Sleepyhead before bursting into tears just as I got done with the last strand. Phew! Life with a newborn is so unpredictable in that sense – you never quite know if you have time to attempt looking human. I am ecstatic if I can manage a shower. Makeup is a bonus, blow-dry is a double bonus, the kind you wish you got given for Christmas.

As per normal in a mum’s world, the whole ‘feed-baby, change baby, grab baby’ ritual took longer than anticipated. Once we were all piled up in the car, baby stuff et al, I realised we were missing a few items. I hesitated for a split second, deliberating over how hot it was … did we really need a pair of socks? Remembering that one time we ventured out sockless, I decided I could not afford to go through such a manic panic inducing episode again. I unbuckled my seat belt and quickly dashed back home.

It was a very busy day at the English Heritage site. Before getting out of the car we gave Aryan a good feed which put him in a sleepy mood. At home he has trouble sleeping in big chunks during daytime but the outdoors seemed to work like a charm. Even in the sweltering heat he seemed quite snug in his carrycot. At the first sign of distress, I scrambled to put on the K’tan carrier (can we just take a moment to savour how proud I am to have FINALLY worked out this contraption?) but he eventually dozed off. I took him out of the stroller multiple times for some sunny clicks. He was very cooperative, opening one bleary eye to check what the fuss was about before deciding it wasn’t for him. He was the youngest visitor at the site by at least a decade.

Overall our trip was one of the more normal days of motherhood, and I greatly enjoyed this outing with Bubs. After a long time, Nizar and I felt like we could savour a semblance of our old lives and weekends. My mum was a HUGE part of why we could pull it off, her help and time simply priceless.

I am scared of the time when my mother will eventually return to Bangladesh, leaving me completely alone at home with Baby Aryan. At the same time I am determined to make this work for us. Every time I venture out with Aryan with my mother by my side, I feel a bit more confident. I hope to grow this confidence till I am hustling mum life like a boss and no longer fearing getting out of the house as much. Wish me luck, mums! I need it. 😀