So I've discovered the dirty little secret of motherhood ... something that your "good mom" girlfriends don't like to talk much about before you have your own kids. It's the fact that the first few weeks with a new baby are so tough and lonely and unrewarding ... generally miserable ... not at all the way they make things look on the Johnson & Johnson commercials!
It has been really difficult to know if I am having any "success" at all. I wake up every morning to complete chaos in the household, a baby that's covered in spit-up, pee, you name it despite the fact that I just bathed and changed her. After several days of that, you can see how I might feel a tad hopeless.
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Anyhoo, I was feeling like a particular failure today when suddenly I realized that my only real job right now is to keep this little angel alive and thriving. If she is alive and relatively well fed at the end of the day, I have accomplished something. Looking at the picture below, I saw distinct ROLLS OF FAT on her sweet little arms as well as MULTIPLE CHINS below her tiny cherubic face. Then I made Aaron weigh her to confirm that she has indeed gained 1/2 a pound over the past couple of days. And for the first time so far, I felt like I've done by job ... at least one of them ... the important one anyway. So until there is more expected of me (like helping her get a decent score on the ACT or behave appropriately in a restaurant) I will count this as VICTORY for our little family, however small it may be.
8 comments:
Honey,
Life is measured in seconds, moments and not in the "big" things. Yep, the rolls of fat, the extra chins, right now, that is your "job" if you need to call it that....and it's the most important thing is Hailey's world, therefore, the most important thing in yours. This time will pass way too quickly and she will soon be spending all her time running AWAY from you. Treasure the very few moments you can hold her and she can't (and doesn't want to!) get away.
Your Mom is right!!!! Oh so very right! Kate is going to be baptized in April! She does not want me to tell her how to do her hair, how or what she should wear and most certainly take her Hannah Montana watching privildges away. Remember when she was just a little chubby cheeked cutie? Ok she is still cute, but let me tell you-they grow up way to fast these days. I have always wanted to be able to shrink them back for just a day. Just so I would never forget. Savor it even though it is a total adjustment!
Sorry about the novel....btw we are planning a visit. When is the best time? I have a way cute gift I can't wait to give you. And of course I can't wait to meet THE actual Oakeson baby that I have been dying to see come into existence since we got to know you guys that night 8 years ago! Let me know!
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, "When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sounds of lullabies? . . . the act of deserting home in order to shape society is like thoughtlessly removing crucial fingers from an imperiled dike in order to teach people to swim."
I'd say you are doing a fine job! Hailey is just adorable and definitely not undernourished. I can't wait until you are teaching her how to behave in a restaurant, or why she must be home by 10PM on a Friday night in middle school. Really, I can't wait, because it will be so fun and enlightening.
She is clearly her father's daughter:
CHAAAAAMP!!!!!!!!!!
Personally, I can't wait until some night you get to tell her you are coming to pick her up from some sketchy party IN YOUR RATTY PINK BATHROBE and you will have NO PROBLEM getting out of the car and ringing the doorbell. One of my fondest "growing up with Amy" memories...ah, being a nonny is sweet, sweet, sweet.
Love you, honey!
Okay, I'm not going to tell you to treasure these moments because they grow up too fast. It's absolutely true, of course, but I don't think you need or want to hear it from yet another person. ;) But know this too: In about three years, you'll catch yourself telling some new mom exactly the same thing. . .or at least thinking it.
Parenthood is not for wimps, to be sure. But you guys are doing a fabulous job! :)
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