For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 02, 2019

Mike and Lizzie should pitch in as well.

Yes, folks, John is capable of helping out with the yard-work and the housework, BUT only if Elly is pregnant.

She’s gotta keep the weight off or she never will after the baby is born.

Ellie’s right. Maintaining muscle tone is important.

When I was pregnant & bombarded with horror stories about lifting anything, I once saw a woman at the supermarket with a huge belly who loaded all her shopping into a cardboard box and then heaved it onto her bump to carry to the car, whistling all the way. She was my hero.

Light exercise is good.

[facepalm] “What did I just tell you?”

I find it interesting in the ways I was treated at the 2 different jobs I had when I was pregnant. When pregnant with my first, the other people went out of their way to make things easier for me, including forbidding me from doing filing because they didn’t want me to “squat” for the bottom 2 drawers. When pregnant with my second, I had to vacuum all of the hallways in the attached disabled apartment building, and move my entire office.

Don’t overload the washing machine. It’s a good way to break it, and your clothes won’t get clean.

Around this time of year I remember a jingle about another Lizzie and an axe1

When I was pregnant, I was very confused by all the rules. You weren’t supposed to lift anything, but previous children would insist and everyone expected you’d pick them up till almost the end. If you mowed a lawn, they’d get really worried, but vacuum the stairs and do heavy laundry, that was expected. No soft serve icecream, soft cheeses, or unmicrowaved lunch meat, limited if any caffeine, avoiding many medications due to chemicals normally considered safe, but all the chemical cleaning products were perfectly OK.

I like the fact that John senses the absurdity and sees the amount of work Elly does. She still has the practical mind that it needs to be done, so she should do it.

I loved doing laundry when I was pregnant. I could load the washer, turn it on, and sit down until it was time to put the clothes in the dryer. All other housework was done standing for long periods of time or pushing a heavy vacuum around. We had no dishwasher so all the dishes were done by hand, and I had an old Kenmore vacuum from the ’70s that my mother loaned to me. That thing weighed a ton!

I worked everyday up until the delivery day. I was a photographer and had to move props and a small table. People often said that they’d move things for me but I found it easier to just do it. It was all about finding the balance point.

Actually, if you have been doing whatever folks think is strenuous before you became pregnant, you can keep on doing it. Stop when it is not comfortable anymore. Maybe Ellie does not normally rake leaves, but she certainly does laundry so this is not harmful to her or the baby.

When I was on active duty in the Air Force in the early 70s, I was told I, as a woman, couldn’t lift anything over 25 pounds, but nobody cared if I had to schlep that much laundry from the barracks to the laundromat.

Elly needs my laundry cart/hamper. I bought a deep one with wheels and a cover while we were living in RV parks. It was very convenient for taking the clothes to the laundry rooms without killing my back, even in the rain. Now that we live in a condo, I still use it, even if I do only have to move the clothes about 20 feet.

I guess ‘hard work’ is relative.

Why are the moms in comic strips always doing all the chores when they usually have two or more able bodied kids? My parents had us doing dishes and folding laundry when we graduated from toddlerhood. Dad (the cook in the family) taught us to make breakfast when we were young teens. Make them kids pull their weight!

Don’t carry nothing that might be a load. Had to put that in here:D

Would it have not have been easier for Elly to simply say “If you really want to help me out John, could you please bring in the laundry?”