Friday 14 October 2011

What they Never Tell You...


Today was another amazing day for weather, sunny and beautiful, a perfectly crisp fall day!  I love it!  I am getting to wear all of my new fall knits and boots that I got last weekend and feeling a bit more fashionable than the usual frumpy-Mom look that I'm sporting!  This afternoon I had an appointment at the spa for my usual maintenance regime, so Paul took Sydney for a long walk in the stroller while I was there.  It was such a perfect use of time for everyone, I got myself primped and plucked, Paul got some exercise in with an hour long walk with the babe, and Sydney had her nap in the stroller.  Worked out well for everyone concerned!  A perfect Friday afternoon!

I was chuckling to myself the other day about how many things you really don't know are going to change in your life when you have a baby.  You know that saying "a baby changes everything"?  I remember hearing that when I was pregnant and thinking that it was silly, I mean, sure a baby changes your life a bit, but everything? 

Well, now that I am two years in, I can definitively say that yes, a baby does change everything, mostly all for the better!  I simply can't imagine my life without Sydney, she is the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thought in my head every night.  I wouldn't change having her here with us for the world.

That being said, there really are some things that nobody ever does tell you when you're becoming a Mom for the first time.  Now I had looked after my fair share of kids prior to having my own, so I really thought that I knew what I was in for.  I could write an entire book on the number of things that I was wrong about when it came to child rearing. 

I used to think that you could shape a child into absolutely anything based on your reaction and response to them.  What I didn't know, is how much the fabric of their personality is knit into them from the day they are born.  They just come out being who they are, and no matter how much you think you can change or bend or temper it, in the end they are who they are.  It has been incredible watching Sydney's personality come to light lately.  She is a funny, energetic, sweet and lively person with a strong sense of independence and a mind of her own and I love every inch of her!  Every day I see more and more of who she is emerging and am in awe at this amazing little girl that God has given me.  I feel blessed beyond measure.

And as a side note, the one other thing that nobody bothered mentioning is the sheer enormity of laundry that suddenly appears when you have a baby.  Laundry has become such a big part of my life, it's comical!  I used to do one, maybe two, loads a week for Paul and I pre-baby.  Now, I do anywhere between 7-10 loads a week, there is hardly a time when I'm at home where you can't hear that hum of the washing machine and/or dryer!  It's shocking how much laundry one tiny person can create!  Luckily for me, Sydney absolutely loves helping me sort the dirty laundry, push all the buttons on the washer and dryer to start them and sitting in the middle of a pile of clean laundry on the bed to hand me items one at a time to fold.  Laundry time has turned into some really great memories for us, who knew?  One of those things they never tell you....

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