I am not good at this blogging thing. But in all reality, there wasn’t enough time to blog. Yes, I’m a first time mom – a first time stay-at-home mom (SAHM). A first time wife. I still have LOTS to learn.
Life turns around 360 degrees when a new life pops out of your body. Sacrifice. After discussing it with my husband, we were able to have me become a SAHM. No, I did not leave a career that I loved. It was a job. I did my time and collected my paycheck every two weeks. However, I think I found the career that I absolutely love – being a mother. Yes, we lost the income I used to earn but this is the time I can’t take back with my son. It’s priceless. Pre-wedding, we sacrificed our old habits – shopping, going out, etc. but we just continued this sacrifice when we found out we were pregnant.
Our son is 10 months old as of today. I sit here in bed with my son laying next to me as I type this, listening to Disney Lullaby music. Yes, we co-sleep from time to time. Who am I kidding? We co-sleep everyday. He starts in the crib and by wee hours in the morning, he is in bed with us! It’s all good, we love this little booger.
It’s pretty nuts how people can be quick to judge on parenting decisions. I’m guilty of it. Prior to being pregnant and actually having Shawn, I swore to myself that I wouldn’t do certain things I’ve seen on TV, or from friends with children, or even from strangers who are out with their kids in public. Now that I’m 10 months in, the “Ahhh I see” light bulb turns on annnnd that’s why they choose to do that with their children.
Prime example, I went to Buy Buy Baby to buy baby food for our trip to Hawaii because I didn’t want to carry on homemade pureed food on the plane and risk spoilage. Another mom was also shopping for baby food and started small talk with me and said, “All the greens (veggies) are gone.” I replied, “Yeah, must be popular. I usually make my own but I want to try these out for our trip to Hawaii.” Other mom, “Oh, I totally stopped making my little ones food a couple months ago. It took to much time.” I smirked and thought to myself, “Heh, I’ll never stop making my baby’s food.” Here I am now feeding my son baby food from the store. More power to those parents who continue feeding their babies homemade food. Again, there is no right or wrong way to raise a kid. As long as it works for you and your little one.
I had set high expectations for myself when I was pregnant to do things this way and that way because it’s what the books, blogs, and emails from various baby websites recommended. I finally learned, there isn’t a right or wrong way to raise your kid. Every family, every baby is different. Suggestions from these sources are great but if it doesn’t work for our little one, then we try something that does work for us. Today, my husband reminded me something that the instructor of our Child Birth class from Kaiser said: “Only you and your husband will know your child(ren) the best, no matter how much experience grandparents, nannies, babysitters, or teachers have. YOU know them the best. ” It was refreshing to hear that again cause now that Shawn is older, it is true. We know his cues and we know what works for him, even if it doesn’t work for our friends’ children or my cousins’ children.
We have lots to learn. We are not perfect parents but the only way to strive to be GREAT parents is to experience it and to learn the ropes as our child(ren) grow.
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