[/caption]...and now that baby is a toddler.
Miss Angelica hit the one year mark last week. When people tell you that it happens fast, it really does happen fast. When I look at her face, I don't see the baby I brought home anymore.
This first year has been the most difficult, challenging, life-changing, personality-changing, educational, exhausting, wonderful, rewarding, exhilirating, frightening and best year of my life. I'm sad that it's over, and now that it is over, I'd do it all over again. (You first time, brand new parents out there reading this are probably thinking, "Are you crazy?! Why would anyone want to do it all over again!" How do I know this? Because I thought the same exact thing for the first six weeks of my daughter's life too.)
[caption id="attachment_151" align="alignright" width="203" caption="Angelica is 1 year old! "]
[/caption]And here we are a year later. Amazing the changes that a year brings. She's gone from being the helpless, screaming, constantly eating, relentless poop factory to being a cute, cuddly, independent, walking, running, falling, laughing, too-smart-for-her-own-good, finicky-eating toddler (who yes, still occasionally earns the poop factory title).
So which is better? The answer is really both. Sometimes I miss the newness of her, the getting to know each other, the getting to know myself as a mom...but I don't miss the lack of sleep, constant worry about SIDS, the bottles, the cleaning of bottles, and the pumping of milk (and formula preparation). I've loved watching her grow and seeing her personality develop. She's got quite a character. When I look at her now, I just see a kid growing up and figuring herself out rather than a baby who can't even figure out how to get her thumb into her mouth. (Soon enough we'll have to work on keeping the thumb out of the mouth!)
In looking back on this past year, I think the biggest advice I could offer to new moms is - ditch the books and read your baby. They'll tell you what's best. Don't listen to criticism from other moms - so what if you use disposables/cloth, organic or not, pacifiers or not, cry it out or not. Love your baby, listen to your baby, and do what is right for your baby - not what's right for someone else's, or what some book tells you is best.
Oh, and hug your husband/significant other/person who is helping you out, too.
2 comments:
Congratulations on making it through that first year. You are right, it is the hardest but best year a mother can have. My baby is turning 2 next week. I think the 2nd year went faster than the first. Happy Birthday Angelica!
Oh and great blog by the way.
Hi Kim, thanks for visiting my blog and wishing my kiddo a Happy Birthday! Happy birthday to yours too! These kids grow up too fast, don't they?
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