2. Oh, so much love. During the hormone-ridden first days postpartum, I was looking at our newborn and burst into tears. My husband hurried over, saying, "What's wrong? Is he okay?" My response: "I just love him so much!" This was followed promptly by more tears. Though I am not quite as crazy as I was in the immediate days following the birth of our son, I still understand that intense mother bear feeling. It's difficult to put into words how much love you will actually feel for your child; it doesn't seem physically or emotionally possible until you've experienced it for yourself. It also makes you crazy-sauce. For example, you have the feeling that if someone dares to threaten your kid, you will literally gouge their eyes out. Literally. And I'm a fairly peaceful person. I can now relate to Liam Neeson's character in the movie Taken. I would break laws and kick all of those terrorists' asses running on nothing but caffeine and adrenaline; I wouldn't even need fancy weapons. I'm serious. Mothers are crazy (fathers, too, apparently). Don't threaten our kids. It's not worth your life.
3. Your old life dies, in a way, but you have a new beginning. In the days after the little man's birth, I was chalk full of emotions. A part of me felt that, now that I was a mom, the fun was officially over. No more parties, no more dates or nights out, no more freedom; my life was now cloaked in responsibility. After a few weeks, however, I realized that you can still do the things you love; life is just different. My husband and I can still go on dates; we just either need to take the little guy along or have a friend or family member babysit. We still spend time with friends and family; visiting others means an extra hand or two with the little guy, giving us an awesome, much-needed break. I can still get coffee, write, go shopping, and do other fun things with the baby; it just means investing more time into getting ready and being willing to cut plans short if he gets fussy. Sure things like attending Packer games, taking exotic trips and going clubbing aren't in our immediate future, but were they ever really common occurrences for us? Not really.
4. Every little thing the baby does is a minor miracle. It's an incredible feeling to watch your child grow and learn. You feel a strange sense of accomplishment, knowing that you created a person who is, well, basically doing the stuff that people are supposed to do... I have nil to zip carpentry skills, but I have the impression that it's the feeling of accomplishment one might get after building a house or something similarly impressive. Our guy is nearly 5 months old, so it's not like he does much yet, but it was awesome to see his first roll, the first time he reached for his feet, his first talking-like noises. I'm sure the more impressive milestones (crawling, walking, potty-training, first day of school, etc.) will be even more amazing!
5. Learning something new. I love learning things as I'm a teacher, an academic, and a natural-born student. Being a parent teaches you so much; for example, I've already learned patience, how to put a baby to sleep, patience, how to change a diaper in seconds basically anywhere, how to cure diaper rash, patience, determination (have you ever watched a 4-month-old spend 40 minutes trying to reach his toes?), nursing, patience, baby milestones, teething, etc. Oh, and have I mentioned patience? Each day makes me wonder what else I will learn about my son or from my son. His innocent little eyes see the whole world as fresh, exciting, and full of potential, and I hope that I can greet the world every day with the same amount of wonder and delight.
Great blog post very intersting to read, kids are amazing the things we can learn from them at all ages. The toe story was hilarious to me, I would give up after a minute, babies don't give up on wanting to reach their toes. Hhaha I know how much you and your husband love, him I've seen it first hand but who would blame you? He is adorable !
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