Looking Back

Originally posted on Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I know that I cannot yet consider myself a “seasoned mama” as my first is only 20 months old but our experience has felt so jam packed with learning that I feel like I’ve been a mama longer than I actually have! Now with another one on the way I am looking back and reflecting on those early days with Bean. 
We had her in bed with us from the start, she had some extra mucus from her birth so we just figured keeping her close to us so we could hear if she needed to spit anything up was the safest choice. In general we kept her quite close to us, held her while she slept and rarely put her down to nap. We did get a bit of “you’ll spoil that baby” and “she needs to learn to self-soothe” . . . I still don’t buy that. I recently met a mama who summed it up perfectly, she said “I will never look back and think I should have spent more time doing the dishes, I will cuddle my baby as much as possible.” This is my sentiment exactly. Thinking about our second baby and wondering if we would do things differently this is one thing that we will not be budging on. Those dishes can wait, the time that our babies can curl up and nap on our chests is fleeting. 
I hope that other mamas out there who are as sleep deprived as I once was can take a minute to reflect and decide that house work and those other errands can wait. Snuggle up with that baby and get some rest, it will get better.