Taking it in

It's no secret that having a baby changes your life. I think that's especially true for your first child. Once that baby is born, life is not about you any more. Suddenly you are at the beck and call of another person 24 hours a day, ruining your body for their sake, feeding them at the drop of a hat (and no one told me that nursing would hurt so much!), changing literally 10 poopy diapers a day, trying to get them to stop screaming their heads off, all while longing for just a 4-hour stretch of uninterupted sleep. And that child doesn't even smile at you! Needless to say, becoming a mother was an adjustment for me.

When Jake was born, I was so shell-shocked that I didn't fully appreciate the miracle that an infant is. And then, before I knew it, he wasn't an infant anymore. Of course, he was a baby and doing all kinds of cool tricks like cooing and crawling (and even smiling at me!), but I feel like those first months with Jake were so busy spent with me adjusting to motherhood that I failed to simply take in and appreciate having a newborn. I wish I could get those first few months with Jake back.

This time around is completely different. I know what to expect. I went into this knowing that I need to go to bed at 7:00 in order to get a combined total of 8 hours of sleep by the time morning comes! I've already made that adjustment to motherhood, so adding another child isn't the same shock to my system. And now, I absolutely love having a newborn infant. I love to just sit and hold him and look at him. I am trying desperately to take it all in because I know that this is the stage that goes by the fastest (in fact, I've already noticed that he's starting to lose that "newborn" look.) Of course, that means that the dishes tend to pile up in the sink and the laundry has to practically yell, "Put me in the wash!" before I get up to do it. I'm truly embarrassed by the state of our bathroom and blogging has taken a little bit of a backseat, but our family has loved all over this little guy since the moment he was brought into our home. And right now, I think that's the most important thing we can do.