Frozen Peas out my Freezer

Frozen Peas out my Freezer

It was only a matter of time before it happened. I had been expecting something like it for quite a while. Really I was just a ticking time bomb. I had finally succumbed to the ailment of all new parents - exhaustion.

For me loosing my mind was a gradual process. Preggy brain was like a haze over my otherwise capable head. I fumbled over names when introducing people, laughed through presentations at work when I conveniently lost my train of thought mid sentence and simply blushed when I found myself at the till in Waitrose, trolley full of groceries and no purse.

When my lovely little lady arrived I was too blissfully happy to realise that a very active birth, coupled with sleepless pregnant nights filled with SPD I was already pretty knackered. DH and I congratulated each other on our chilled attitude toward parenting those first few days. Despite our precious princess being hauled back into hospital on day two because she was on the serious side of jaundice we were OK. Cool. Calm. Collected.

It was approximately 5 days until the fog of happy hormones lifted and I realised that after cooing and cuddling my little angel all that was left was pure venom to spit out of my mouth at my poor hubby. I wasn't the only one hissing. Shock set in as after 9 months of being kept in a protective bubble of love by him, my DH suddenly spat out his words at me!

We were officially entering the rite of passage that all new parents go through, sheer exhaustion parading around as hatred of each other. At one point we found ourselves red in the face, shouting at one another in full whispering tones so as not to wake the bubba in the middle of the night. The poor girl wasn't even awake for her feed yet and we were arguing about being tired!



Yes strange things happen when you are sleep deprived. CNN recently released an article confirming what we have long suspected. Lack of sleep really can shrink the size of our brains: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/04/health/no-sleep-brain-size/index.html

But all this aside, here we are, weeks after DD arrived and still enjoying every minute of her. More maternal than I could ever imagine i would be, I delight in each smile; marvel at her movements and happily clean up vomit from her mouth before even touching my own soggy shoulder.

Yet nothing can change the fact that I have found a new capacity for exhaustion. Many a night have I woken to feed her and sat, yawning in the dim lit nursery desperately counting the number of hours of precious sleep I have had that night. For those interested, anything over 4 was a miracle. Once I reached 5 I thought I could run a marathon the following day.
I have fond memories of the days I used an alarm clock. My alarm had a snooze button. Try telling a newborn that mommy needs another 10 minutes of sleep. I have now joined the ranks of parents who look on with jealousy as their friends complain how tired they are after having woken up at 9am on a Saturday. 9am is the new parents' sleep equivalent of an all you can eat  breakfast buffet to a hungover university student.

After 8 weeks of cleaning a dirty tiny bum, wiping spit up from a little mouth and feeding a hungry mini Madamoiselle all hours of the day, it finally happened. I opened up the fridge just the other morning to grab the milk and I saw them. All dressed up and nowhere to go but the bin. The vegetable of champion to parents, the superveg of the sleep deprived hungry mother, the one veggie that requires nothing more of me than removing them from their packaging and popping in the microwave for only a minute. The frozen peas. The sleep deprived, greasy haired, perpetually confused me had killed them.
The artist formerly known as the frozen peas had finally met their maker. Sad news people, the fridge is no place for frozen food.

Naturally my first thought was trying to salvage my trusted pals. I gave them a little squidge, hoping and praying they had at least some of their freeze left in them. Alas, it was game over for my frozen friends. Off to pea heaven they went and back to my coffee I fled.

I have managed to swallow the bitter pill of pea loss well. I have moved on to fresh asparagus, they don't seem to mind where I leave them as long as I eat them in the end.

The good news for future peas and other freezer goods is that DH and I are starting to step out of the tired tangle and beginning to get some sleep. So who knows, maybe one day I'll remember to freeze those peas after all.