I was never nominated for the “Mother of the Year” award. My first child Vanessa was born during the busiest month of the Pizzeria’s first full year in business. After an idyllic week at the Botanic Garden Hospital I became a human yo-yo once back on Bequia, NOT a calming influence for a new-born baby!
My days now started at 3:15 instead of 3:45. I had to feed the baby before work, and did so with impatience oozing from my pores. She was a finicky eater and took her time while I needed to get to work! I would dash home between batches of bread to feed her again, always in a hurry, never calm and relaxed the way a good mother should be. I didn’t like pumping milk into bottles, it hurt and only created a backlog that had to be dealt with later. It was not an ideal situation but I was doing the best I could.
Once the baby got a bit older I decided to take her to work with me, not at 3:45 of course, I wasn’t about to sling her over a wire fence in the dark! Mac carried Vanessa down each morning in a basket, and she would spend the day on the window ledge at the back of the kitchen. It was certainly more convenient when it came to feeding her, much easier than running up to the house and back. Customers and staff would ooh and ahh over her during the breakfast and lunch hours and she seemed to enjoy the attention. This suited us fine, once in a while I would have to blow an accumulated layer of flour off her little face but she was happy enough.
One morning I fed her and put her back in her crib. I went to have a shower and get dressed for work as she gurgled happily to herself. Peeking in at her as I was leaving I saw why she was so happy – she had wriggled out of her diaper and painted poo all over herself and the sides of the crib. Blowing her a kiss, I tip-toed softly out of the nursery and went to work. It was 3:45 A.M. and there was bread to be made!
A while later a loud bellowing came from my house. The whole neighborhood heard Mac scream, “I know you saw it! I know you saw it!” I just smiled to myself and let HIM deal with the poo, I had bread to make!
