Hi friends! I’ve spent a long time away and have received requests to pick up blogging again, so let’s all celebrate my triumphant return! Seriously though, let’s really celebrate that I have finally have developed a schedule for myself and baby A that allows me to get things done. A is 9.5 weeks old today and our days have become filled with more smiles and a whole lot less tears. Warning: the following is a raw account of my personal experience with a newborn, if you just want to see pictures, feel free to scroll past the text.
The first six weeks or so of having Aubrey home was pretty hard. I thought I knew being a Mom was hard work, but I had no idea. I think the most overwhelming part was having the expectation of myself (and therefore thinking others shared this expectation of me) that I would instantly know what to do as a parent and be great at it. WRONG. It took just over six weeks to start getting the hang of things. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I had her diapers on backwards and fed her pizza, it took six weeks to understand what she needed from me and when. I went back and forth as to whether I should write about how things have really been or sugarcoat life with a newborn and just post cute pictures. Then I realized the reason I had the expectation that things would come naturally for me and that the love for your child is so deep that every day is filled with unicorns and rainbows, is because that is the message I had perceived from the edited accounts of motherhood I had read before. Sure, the occasional “being a mom is hard work” was thrown around, but that statement was basically brushed aside by pictures of beaming moms with their beautiful newborns, and the idea that a mother’s love would conquer all. In reality, sometimes your baby is upset and nothing you try will cease the blood curdling screams that cannot possibly be coming from a mere mortal, let alone a 7 pound infant. And guess what? You feel frustrated, really frustrated. Then, you feel guilty for feeling frustration towards the baby that you should only ever feel endless love for. The first couple weeks were basically a battle between frustration, and then guilt. It was really hard not knowing what to do and having a baby who really does have the loudest baby scream of all time. In those weeks, I wish that I had known it is okay to feel frustration, and other moms feel it too! And that’s why I decided to share my real accounts in parenthood, and not just countless photos of my baby girl.
I really think Michael and I lost at least 40% of our hearing ability in her first month of life. Hearing other babies get mad sounds like a tiny kitten crying. I even googled, “baby is always angry when awake” for the hope that there might be a miraculous cure to end her crying or perhaps an online tutorial outlining what my specific baby wanted. I found no answers. After six weeks and lots of trial and error, we finally started to understand what Aubrey wanted and when, and now that she trusts her needs to always be taken care of, her tiny cries rarely turn to screams. It’s all about getting to know your baby and that takes time and practice! We can run errands together and she’ll happily look around the store from her stroller or baby carrier, and I can shop without the nagging anxious thought that a baby meltdown could happen any second.
Aubrey tagging along on our trip to Costco
These days, we actually have a nap schedule (thanks to the handy chart found here)! Naps mean I can get things done such as: write blog posts, shower, eat meals, etc. A two month old baby is much less difficult and much more fun. Little A’s personality is really starting to come through. She has become very vocal and really likes “talking” to her toys, especially her new Minnie Mouse courtesy of her Grandpa Nacho. After looking back at her newborn photos today it’s amazing how much she has changed already. At 9 weeks she is 10 pounds, 6 ounces and 24 inches long (that’s 6 inches longer than birth!). She smiles A LOT, it really is the best thing to wake up to, especially after a poor nights sleep. I’ll be sure to make more posts now that things have calmed down over here; posts complete with spit-up stories and cute photos, always.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
sweet heart baby 