Nearly Nesting

I’ve been on Maternity Leave for a week now, and despite a couple of hectic days, most of them have been super chilled.

Scotney Castle from our walk last week

I’ve been splitting up the day into different activities (yoga, writing, knitting, maybe a little bit of cleaning) which keep me from being in one position too long as, then, my back and ribs end up becoming agonizingly painful. Warm baths do help, but the risk of a daytime bath (as indulgent as that sounds) is that the postman will knock on the door mid-soak! I think the poor women doing a survey on local attitudes to public transport was a little taken aback when I opened the door clad in a towel and shampoo!

My nesting instinct seems to take the form of literally nesting: all I want to do is wrap myself in a blanket and sit on the sofa, knitting and Netflix-ing. I’m not experiencing the urge to clean and tidy yet; which is a shame as lord knows the house needs a good clean! But today I did manage to stir myself to clean the bathroom (which is one of the bigger jobs) and make a start on the hallway.

The problem is that I get so out of breath doing small tasks, that tackling the flat as a whole seems like an insurmountable challenge. So I’m splitting up the rooms and I’ll do a room a day. At least that’s the intention: we still have to take the Christmas decorations down from the front room, (and that’s a two-person job at the best of times) so there’s no point in a big clean until that’s done.

If I ease myself into nesting, maybe the instinct will kick in at some point and I’ll become the domestic goddess I never dreamed of being?

How did everyone else’s nesting instincts manifest?