Being a first time mom, I know that I have a HUGE learning curve, but I felt like I was as prepared as I was ever going to be to have a child. I read several books, I went to all the classes, I was involved a group with pregnant women, and new moms, and heard all their stories. I watched “Happiest Baby on the Block” and cleaned my house up and down three times over before Kait was born. Although I was nervous bringing Kait home from the hospital I thought that I had the knowledge to conquer her every whim and whimper. I wanted to make sure that I did everything correct from the swaddling, to the shushing, to the sleeping, to the changing, to the breast-feeding. I wanted to make sure that this child got off to the right start. I cleaned out her still attached umbilical cord so carefully and made sure that the wipes weren’t too cold so that she didn’t cry when I changed her. I thought that I knew what it took to be a great mother. But nothing slaps all of that “knowing” out of your head like a newborn screaming for you at 2am, 4am, 6am, 8am (ad nauseum). Although I thought I knew how I would handle a baby, my child still cried, my child still had sleepless nights, and most of all, and worst of all, my child ended up being formula fed. Out of all my classes, books, and support groups, the one thing that I was not going to budge on was breast-feeding my child. I even dragged my husband to breast feeding classes and made him read a couple of passages in some books to make sure that I had a strong supporter who also knew all the benefits of breast-feeding. I won’t go into the details of why I ended up giving my child formula (if you really want to know email me). But the bottom line is, that was my first failure as a mother, and will always be my first failure. It is something that I am still working through, might always be working through, but it has gotten better. And it has gotten better because I know that although I might feel like an epic failure as a mother, my child still looks for me in a room and squeals with delight when she sees me. My child still likes to cuddle with me before I put her to bed. My child looks into my eyes with such extreme love and trust that my heart feels like its about to explode in happiness. And – my child is still well fed, well nourished, and happy and healthy. She is thriving with the circumstances that she has been given, and that makes this momma extremely proud of her almost 9 month old! Every day I am becoming more comfortable in my role as a mother, and ENJOYING it more and more – what intense joy a mother has been given to watch their child grow…regardless of their failures. I am evolving into a mother, a provider, a confident that she can be proud of, that she can learn from (and yes learn from my mistakes). I am learning what GREAT JOY it is to be a mother – not just the person who gave my child birth.
8 months
8 month stats…..
- As you can see from the pictures, Kait is crawling and pulling herself up and LOVING every minute of it!
- She had her first plane ride and made it all the way to Pennsylvania for the Watermire family reunion! (side note: I will never again to “baby on lap” for a plane ride….this was a nightmare. All she wanted to do was be on the ground crawling!! Trying to keep her in my lap for 4 hours was not so great for mommy & daddy. Not to mention that the flight attendants were not to helpful when I had to change the her – they told me I had to wait until they were done with their beverage service. I told her she was out of her mind, and she let me go through. I guess a screaming poopy baby can be pretty persuasive – needless to say, we will buy a seat for her and take her car seat so we can strap the child down!).
- “dada” was your first consonant sound. MS was thrilled, because I have been practicing for MONTHS now to get her to say “mama”, but I told him that it didn’t count yet because it wasn’t recognition. I am still holding out for “mama” as her first words!
- We tried puffs this month, and I was scared to death that she was going to choke on them, but she did pretty good and now LOVES them.
- She is still sleeping through the night and on Saturdays she even sleeps in (which makes both mommy and daddy very happy!)
- She is just an excellent baby, and she is getting more fun every day! So many people comment on what a great baby she is (and we do feel really lucky to call her ours!)
7 months
…Ok…so this was supposed to be posted on 5/29 and I am just now getting around to it now. Tis the life of a mom…things on my “to-do” list usually take me over a month to actually get done.
So here’s to 7 months!!
Here are some fun stats from the last months of my baby girl.
She learned to scoot around; which means that baby gates, and locks and everything baby proofing went into effect at casa de McSchmoopers.
She is now eating 2 solid meals a day, and will eat just about anything. She’s not so sure how she feels about straight fruit, though, but will sure scarf it down if it comes with rice cereal!
She got TWO teeth (on the bottom) and you EARNED them – wow for teething! 🙂
We have graduated from bathing in the sink to the bath-tub, because someone learned how to splash at Papa and Nana’s house! I am not sure who gets more soaked during bathtime, mom or baby!
Still in size 2 diapers, but already growing out of 6 month jammies!
She has ALMOST figured out how to sit up on her own, but can’t quite do it all on her own for a long period of time.
She recognizes her name, and SMILES at it.
Gigggles with absolute delight at very wierd things (like herself in the car seat, and mommy saying nonsensical things when we are eating!).
Still is not a cuddler, and would like to be on the go ALL the time.
She is starting show some signs of seperation anxiety when she is held by someone other than either mommy or daddy.
Bathing in Ice
I recently described my last year (May 09-May 10) to my mom as feeling like someone threw me into an ice bath and said “K – enjoy your new life! See ya!” And I was left screaming “No – you don’t understand, I am used to a WARM bath, not ice. Please – can you get me back to the warm bath?!” But nobody came…..and now I am sitting in a bath, where most of the ice has melted, but dang, it’s still cold!! I have gotten used to being a wife, and MS and I are working hard on making our relationship what we both need it to be for one another; I am starting to get used to the idea of being a M-O-M; I think that we are almost all moved into our house; I am developing a comfortable routine with the Kait; and I am actually getting used to the drive into work. But I still can’t help but feel like sometimes my life is completely out of control and overwhelming, which is something I am neither good at nor used to at this point. My life has been a constant work in progress the last year, and when I say WORK in progress I mean a daily choice to appreciate everything that the Lord has blessed me with in the last year, and to thank Him for choosing me to be a wife to my amazing husband and a mother to my wonderful daughter. And I can tell you truthfully, that every time I do give thanks, He melts a little more ice….