Being an octopus

I have been very busy lately taking care of my son, house, and husband all by myself because I had sent my maid back to her agent for a recourse before she gets her new work permit. It is not a requirement by government but I just feel that it is necessary for her to touch up on her working skill and her attitude. After working for 1 year at my house, she started to downgrade her work standard and her attitude.

When she just came to work at my place a year ago, she was very polite, shy, and quite. She woke up very early and by 6am she would have taken shower and started her daily chores, but then after 6 months, she started to get up at 7am (my husband normally gets up around 6am). At first, we just left her alone and gave her a chance perhaps she couldn't sleep well and needed a longer sleep.

But then everyday, she got up later and later and I had to be one who knocked her door to wake her up and she went to bed sometimes as early as 9pm. I asked her why she got up so late and she told me her alarm clock didn't work. So, I fixed the alarm clock and it worked fine and still she got up after 7am. Sometimes she got up so late that we all had to stay in the bed because she still had to mop the floor and everything was delayed. Oh by the way, she is quite fierce. She can just yell at us (her employers) and instruct us what to do. I am tired of telling her anything because she would just defend her self and blame me instead for not following her rules. Oh gosh, who is the boss here??

You see why I need to send her for a recourse? Even the nurses at a hospital near our house know how fierce my maid is because when my son was hospitalized there, my maid actually yelled at one of the nurses because the nurse took a long time to fix my son's drip and the nurse got angry and she challenged my maid. Now, everytime I go to that hospital, the nurses will ask me if my maid follows me or not. I think they just want to take precaution. :)

Anyway, it's been 3 weeks since I sent my maid back to her agent. I did everything by myself. I feel like an octopus with all my body parts work at the same time.

I have to cook, clean up, wash dishes, cloths, etc. with my right hand while my left hand carrying/holding my son because he has become my tail. He follows me everywhere I go even going to toilet for whatever reason. I understand he feels lonely because mommy is very busy. I try to spend my time playing with him but when the time comes to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I will be busy like hell and my son will become fussier.

Luckily the place I live is not too big so it is not difficult to clean and it doesn't take long time to sweep and mop the floor. My son always wants to help when I clean up the house. He happily drags the mop and starts to mop the floor when I am in the middle of sweeping the floor. So, the floor will be wet and I can't sweep anymore. Or he will just happily sit on all the dirt I collect at the corner of the house when I sweep the floor and he will play with the dirt. And anytime he feels dirty, he will run to the shower and take off his cloths and diaper and ready to be showered. In a day, he will ask for shower about 4-5 times a day. If I don't shower him, he will show temper and hide himself inside a different toilet and play with the water inside the toilet bowl. I really have to keep my eyes on him while taking care of the rest of the things at home.

I can manage without a maid, but I really loose all my freedom and all my time for myself. I can't sit infront of computer too long anymore. My ebay store is neglected, my blog is neglected, I do not have time to check my emails and I can't even concentrate writing my software that I hope I can make money from. All my time is only for my son, my husband, and my house (and I am a clean freak. So, it is very difficult to ignore things unorganized and dirty).

I am exhausted. I miss the time when I can sit down and watch my favorite TV shows while munching on some peanuts and drink a cup of tea.

I wanted to feel sorry for myself, but then I remember that I am not alone at all. And I am not even the first to do all these by myself. In fact, I should not feel sorry because as a modern mum, I have all the facilities at home that can help me to speed up my work such as my microwave, my washing machine (I don't have dryer though..he..he..), my water boiler, my new broom and mop that I don't have to give all my power to squeez it. I can choose to switch on my aircon all day to feel comfortable while working.

And when my husband is around, he will help me to shower my son and to spend time playing with him so that I can at least check my emails and writing this blog.

I can't imagine if I had to do all these during the old days when everything had to be done by hand. My mum told me she had to pump the water by hand while watching me and carrying my brother at the same time and at that time, the electricity was not even installed at our house. And my mum survived. My condition now is nothing compared to her. So, I should keep my head up, enjoy being the octopus, and feel grateful for I am a modern mum living in high-tech era.