Mommyhood

Two days ago, Julia celebrated 2 months of life outside the womb. It's amazing how much she has changed and developed in such a short time. Right now she's doing a lot of things that may not be exciting to the average person, but to her parents are incredibly exciting. She is giving LOTS of smiles. It's amazing to see your child smile. I'm not sure what could make me happier than knowing that she's happy. One of her cutest, most hypnotizing behaviors is when she discovers her voice. She lays on her little play mat and kicks her legs and swings her arms and says "ooooohhhhh, uuuuuuuuhhhhhhh, aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh, ooooohhh" changing volume and expression. I could watch her do that for hours. She also likes to use her leg muscles and try and stand up. Obviously at this age, she's nowhere close to being able to stand up on her own, but with some support, she can hold a good bit of her own weight. She loves it! She recognizes me and Adam, and Stella too (I think). One of her favorite things to do is stretch. She loves to reeeeach her arms over her head, throw her head back, close her eyes, arch her back and s-t-r-e-t-c-h. She makes it look so good!

She has certainly made the adjustment into parenthood an easy one. She makes crying cute, sleeplessness bearable, and her poop doesn't even stink. Just kidding, I'm not one of THOSE parents :) I know she's not perfect, and I know that her crying isn't cute to everyone, and I knooow that her poop stinks (and I hear it's only going to get worse!). But the thing is that when it's your own kid, you don't really mind any of it as much. It's not an inconvenience to deal with all these things (and more), it's just what my life is focused on now- taking care of this new creation. God has trusted us with his child, and it's an honor to try our best not to screw things up :)

There have been some tough adjustments into parenthood. It hasn't been seamless. Alone-time with Adam is a little tougher to find, but we find it and we are adjusting. Not only is this my first time being a momma, but it's my first fall not being in school. I've been in school and/or working since I was 5, so it is a bit odd to be doing neither. I was raised to have a good work ethic for school and for jobs, and sometimes I feel guilty that I'm not working and bringing home any money. I know I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, and I just need to think about motherhood as a job. I'm getting there, but I'm used to having assignments and tasks with deadlines and results and accountability. I just need to learn to take the work ethic and tenacity that I had towards work/school, and channel it into homemaking and parenting. I am going to work part-time a few hours/week starting at the end of this month, and I think it will be a good "me-time" break.

Some of my motherhood favies:

1. seeing her smile

2. being such a comfort to her

3. being able to provide things for her that no one else can

4. hearing her "talk"

5. seeing her make Adam melt

6. using cloth diapers...actually makes diapering FUN!

7. watching her grow & develop day by day

8. bath time

9. when she naps on my chest

10. folding her teeny-tiny clothes