Things I Said I'd Never, Ever Do

We all have things we said we would never ever do once we have children. I would see parents doing this or that, and I would be quick to judge telling myself that I would NEVER do that once I popped out a little one. How naive. Pre baby Sarah had no idea what she was thinking. Pre baby Sarah didn't realize what being a parent was actually about.

Let's take a look at the things I said I would never do, but alas, find myself doing:

*Dressing up my baby girl
     Now this one I mentioned in a previous post. I told myself that my baby girl wasn't not going to be a girly girl. I was not going to put her in dresses and I certainly wasn't going to put those ridiculous headbands with the giant flowers on her tiny baby head.
But...it's just so irresistible! Baby girls clothes are just SO cute. And I have to put her in the outfits we got at the baby showers, right?! And some of them are dresses. And she did get some of those headbands too. I can't just waste them, now can I?

*Have baby stuff everywhere!
     Pre baby Sarah made a point to tell Phil that we were not going to be those parents that allows their children's things to overtake the whole house. In fact, pre baby Sarah said that our bedroom is the "baby free zone". No baby stuff allowed in there. We need a place to go to get away from everything baby and to relax.
Post baby Sarah is laughing out loud. Literally.
Our apartment is tiny. Baby items are many. How does such a tiny person accumulate so many things?
Well, we need a swing and a bouncy seat to satisfy her. We need a baby changing station downstairs so that we don't have to travel up and down those stairs every time she wets herself or spits up.
And our own sanctuary room? Yeah, right. Baby stuff there too.
Sigh...

*Posting pics to facebook
     I was always one of those people that got annoyed looking at facebook because people continuously posted the dumb pictures they took of their children. Yes we get it, you're a new parent and you love your child. But those pictures of your child sleeping are getting rather redundant. Babies sleep.
Oh, you changed your kids outfit and decided to snap a picture of it? Fabulous. I just changed my outfit too. Care to see?
How quickly I was to judge. I can't tell you how many pictures I have taken of Jaelyn sleeping. And ya know what...I couldn't resist posting them to facebook! I realize that nobody else really cares as much as I do. But it's fun to show of your baby. And so...I suppose I will continue to do that too.

*Let my kids watch t.v. at a young age
     Now before you are quick to judge, I do not just sit my infant in front of a television. But I will tell you that Jaelyn loves the t.v. Probably because it's colorful and it moves and there is noise.
And so, if I would like a few minutes (or maybe a half hour) of peace, Jaelyn and I will watch t.v. And ya know what's absolutely wonderful? She doesn't even care what we are watching! She let's me pick every time. What a great daughter!

*Allow my baby to sleep in bed with me
     When I was pregnant people were constantly making comments about the baby sleeping in my bed. Some would say how it was a terrible thing and to never do it. Some would say it's great for you and the baby. Some would comment on how I'd never have my room back again.
I'd always smile and nod, but inside I'd roll my eyes. I already knew what I was going to do. The baby was not going to be sleeping in my bed. She was only going to stay in my room for the first week or two, and then it was off to her own room and crib.
And I'm happy to say that that is mostly true still. Jaelyn did stay in our room the first several weeks. A bit more than 2 weeks though. But she was always in the pack n play.
When she was a month old she began sleeping in her own room.
And as far as her sleeping with me...well, in the mornings after Phil goes to work and Jaelyn wakes up to eat, I will put her in bed with me and we will sleep an extra hour or two all snuggled together. I love it!

I'm sure there are going to be a lot more things that I said I wouldn't do and then end up doing them. Or things that I said I would do, but now choose not to.

Being a parent is funny business!

Newborn to Infant

My new favorite thing is comparing pictures of when Jaelyn was first born with how she looks now. It's crazy how much a baby can change in such a short period of time.
It's fun, but it is also a little bit sad. I recently realized that she no longer has a newborn face. She looks like an infant. Her face has filled out, she's got some chubs on her and she is just overall more solid. My little baby is growing up so fast.

Here are the lasted comparison pictures:

Okay, so this might be a silly comparison. But I thought it was pretty funny!

Like Mother Like Daughter

 My mom always told me that I was born with an attitude. From the minute I came out, I had a scowl on my face. That is exactly how Jaelyn is. She can look like she has such an attitude problem at times. Is attitude hereditary?!

I was holding Jaelyn's tiny baby feet today, and I thought "How could these cute little toes be any cuter?!"
It was, at first, a rhetorical question. Obviously her toes just couldn't get any cuter!
Then I chuckled out loud (literally out loud) when I thought about painting her baby toe nails.
And then that silly thought turned into something that I just couldn't resist doing.

And ta da!!

Since I found out I was having a girl, I kept saying that she wasn't going to be a girly girl, that I wasn't going to put her in dresses or put those silly bow headbands in her hair.
But as I look at her cute little face and her adorable little baby body, the urge to dress her up is just too overwhelming. I find myself looking at hair "things" for her when I'm at the store, dressing her up in cutesy dresses and...obviously now painting her toenails hot pink.
What has happened to me?!

I still can't do the frilly things. Frilly dresses and anything of the sort just makes me cringe. And although I do like to put those silly headband things in her hair now, I still haven't been able to put those giant flowers in her hair. Please Lord, don't let it come to that!!

 Baby headband!

Cute little baby dress!

Comparisons

For as along as I can remember I have been comparing myself to other people. Especially those closest to me. I compare myself to my best friends all the time. And I know that I shouldn't do it. There hasn't been one time that it has ever helped me. I compared my wedding with those friends of mine who were also getting married around the same time as me. I compared my relationship with my husband to my friends' relationship with their husbands. I even compared my pregnancy with that of my friends who were also pregnant at the same time as me. And so I don't know why I thought it would be any different once I had my baby.

All babies are different. That's a given. But when my baby seemed extra fussy compared to my friends little boy that almost never cried, I grew more and more frustrated. And when my baby stayed up late and wouldn't sleep for very long at night, I compared her to my friends son who went to bed early and slept well all night long.

I also wanted a baby that was content to just sit by herself and a baby that cooed and always seemed so happy. And I wanted a baby that went to bed promptly at 7pm and slept well through the night.

But then I had a much needed reminder about comparing my life to that of other people. I was reading an excerpt from a book and came across this quote

         " Savor the moments of this season that will never come around again. We tend to keep waiting for life to get better when, really, it just gets different. If the grass looks greener on the other side of your fence, it may be because you’re not investing your time and energy in your own grass. Live in the present".

-What Every Mom Needs

And I realized that I've been being very silly. I love my baby just the way she is. And if I didn't have a friend with a baby, I wouldn't think anything of her fussiness and her not sleeping well through the night (which, by the way, she sleeps very well now). I'm only comparing her because she is different than another baby. And like I said earlier...all babies are different.

This quote made me realize that I love this stage of who my baby is, and I really don't want her to be any different. Because she tends to be a little more fussy, I get to hold her more and cuddle her more. And I love that. 

She's learning to be more content with just being put down, but she still longs to be held and cuddled. And how can complain about getting to do that with their precious little girl?!

So...when I begin to compare my kid with the kid next door, I'm going to remember this moment.

Time to brag...just a little

I need a moment to brag about my amazing baby.

The past week she has been sleeping SO well. She will go to sleep between 10:30pm-11:30 and stay asleep until about 4:30am. And then she goes right back to sleep and will wake up again between 7:30am-8:30.
It has been so wonderful getting a few extra hours of sleep. And she typically takes a morning nap around 10am, so I know that I will usually have a chance to get some things done, or also take a nap if I'm still tired.

And since I'm writing this for everyone to read, I've probably jinxed myself and she will no longer sleep that well.

But I just had to brag on my precious girl.

And while I'm at it, here are some pictures of her!!

Newer "mom" do

Okay, so my hair wasn't at all what I had wanted. What I wanted the lady to do (which I explained to her, but apparently she didn't understand) was to take my natural color and do some low lights, so that when my hair grows out, it's not two drastically different colors. That way, I will eventually have less maintenance. My hair can just grow out and I can be done with the whole coloring thing.

But she did highlights of the random red hair color that was in there. Why?! I have not a clue.

Anyway, I went to my mom's for a couple of days and she totally hooked me up! She added brown to the bottom layer of of my hair, and also put in some low lights throughout the top. She did an amazing job!!

I've decided that I'm no longer going to pay to have my hair done. I always have to have my mom fix it anyway.

I think I've said that before...

Thanks mom, this is exactly what I wanted!!!

That's obviously not a picture of my hair. But I just wanted to show how Jaelyn was chillin with me as I typed this. She's so adorable!!

Baby Fever?

I had one of those crazy moments recently. As I was looking at my sweet sleeping baby girl, I thought "Hey, this isn't so bad. I could totally handle another one". And since then, I have had this crazy baby fever thing happening.
I have always wanted to have kids close together in age. My brother and I were only 13 months apart, and it was nice growing up with a sibling only a year older than me. We always had someone to play with, conspire with and to blame things on. So much fun!

But then she has one of those evenings when she is crying inconsolably, and I think that I can barely handle one, so how can I possibly handle two?!

Right now though, she is sitting contently against my chest, and again I feel that it's totally doable. I've got that crazy baby fever thing happening and I there's nothing I can do about it.
Of course, we are not trying to have another baby. At least not this soon.

Oh, and there's the fact that Phil doesn't feel the same way as me. And I guess he has something to do with the whole process, so we shall wait to have another. But if...just if we happened to get pregnant any time soon, I don't think I'd be terribly upset.