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Lifehack for Moms. A fun book for loving moms!
A fun book for loving moms!
Maria Savina
Editor Tatyana Fomina
Illustrator Julia Bodinova
Translator Anna Tanrikulu
© Maria Savina, 2020
© Julia Bodinova, illustrations, 2020
© Anna Tanrikulu, translation, 2020
ISBN 978-5-0051-7642-4
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
2018
Editor Tatyana Fomina
Illustrated by Julia Bodinova
Translated by Anna Tanrikulu
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to my beloved husband and son. If not for them, I would have never written this book.
I would also like to thank:
Maria Korobova, who inspired me to write this book;
Tatyana Fomina, my understanding and literate editor;
Julia Bodinova, who painted amazing water-color illustrations;
Elizaveta Kaltygina, Anastasia Getman and Mikhail Adrisov, who helped me to understand what to do with this book once it was finished;
All mothers and experts who answered my endless questions;
And all of those who helped, supported and waited eagerly.
Dedicated to all new moms out there…
What is the most important thing about child care? Throughout my pregnancy I’ve read tons of books, magazines and articles on the Internet on how to organize breastfeeding, bathe a baby, tell the difference between a bodysuit and a sleepsuit, and choose the right kind of pram suitable for Siberian snow drifts.
In these nine months I’ve managed to read the equivalent of Encyclopaedia Britannica, and surely I knew everything about child care. Well, I was wrong.
After my son was born I realized that I did not read about the most important thing. Apparently, it is all about being a calm and sane mother, which is not so easy to achieve when you sleep only on national holidays and have a colicky baby by your side.
I remember making myself wake up in the mornings after six good night sleeps, each lasting about 18 minutes. “Good morning, sunshine!” I would say to my son, thinking: “I hope I can make it to the evening”.
During the day my son was pure angel. He was looking around, making funny noises and smiling to his mommy. Surely he was having enough sleep! Sometimes though, there were drills during the day as well. Like a bolt from the blue, this tiny baby would suddenly turn on a siren so loud that windows were rattling, and I would rush to his crib, throwing unpeeled potatoes into the soup as I went. So what was that about a calm and sane mother?
It turned out that there was absolutely no point in reading articles such as How to Decorate a Nursery in Pastel Tones or The Best Nursery Rhymes for the Little Ones. It would have made more sense to read something like How to Survive if you Sleep Four Hours a Day, How to Salvage Badly Bitten Breasts or 10 Ways to Reach Nirvana During Baby Colic.
It is not really accepted to complain after you’ve had a baby. Society believes that new mothers must look happy 24/7, always smile and flutter about on the wings of maternal happiness. In reality, every new mother knows about lack of sleep, lack of time and backache. The first months (or even years) of motherhood is a borderline between happiness and a nervous breakdown. All-consuming love for your child lives side by side with horrible anxiety, and infinite happiness goes hand in hand with tears of exhaustion. In short, the words “paradox” and “motherhood” should be synonyms.
If you find yourself at a loss while reading this, you probably do not have children yet. And if you do, then you are probably the father, not the mother.
I truly hope to cheer up all new mothers and tell them honestly and openly: “Yes, we all go through the same things! I know it is not easy for you now, but it will get better with every month! Yes, he (she) will really sleep better one day!”
Right now, many months after the birth of my son, all those first challenges seem like nothing. Only drafts for this book, like a black box from a plane, allowing me to remember those difficult times when I was worn out and cried from exhaustion (((and wanted to run away to the Maldives))))