My little swe-lankan is seven months old! It is hard to believe this amount of time has come and gone! Most of the time, I am thinking how sad I am that the time has flown by and how am I ever going to bottle up all the memories! It was not until I visited Babies R Us today and was walking down some of the aisles (aka breastfeeding aisle) that it hit me how far I have come since he was born! What I realized is that no matter how ready you feel – who you talk to and get advice from or how many books you read – you can never be prepared for this new little life that is going to enter the world. Every week (or even day) something new happens that nobody told you about or that you never read about. In this blog post I wanted to discuss how I have evolved and let go of the me first attitude that made me truly realize I am in full-blown mommy mode.
- Working Out: Before I became a mommy, this was at the top of my priority list. I worked very long hours at my job as an auditor, yet I would wake up early for a 6 am workout most days during the week or would squeeze in a workout on the way home (depending on my workload that day/week, I would do both!). On the weekends I would do doubles (take two classes). I would definitely take days off to rest. I was not a crazy person about it (I have been there before and would never want to be like that again and I also see crazy when I am out at some of the classes!). Working out is something that I truly enjoy for so many reasons, which will have to be a separate blog post! It was like I knew that my time for working out with this type of freedom would end once I had a baby and I wanted to get it all in! Now that I am a mommy, working out has dropped on the priority list. Not only that, but when I do workout, Xavier is usually with me so if I need to tend to him, I do and my workout takes a backseat. So, the quantity of my workouts have dropped and some days the quality, which I equate to those unmotivated days at the gym…..whomp whomp……but sometimes my husband will watch Xavier and I will get a workout in all to my self. 🙂 I LOVE working out with Xavier right by my side and now cannot imagine being into my workouts like I used to be. I would never trade my time with him and so glad I can incorporate him into my workouts, he is growing up way too fast!
- Nothing is about me anymore: Wow! This one I knew would be true, but was not able to comprehend how large a change this would be until Xavier arrived. Babies are so helpless and so dependent and need help around the clock. My husband works a stressful job that requires him to be well-rested so the nights also fell on me. You are the babies source of comfort, food, love, reassurance, everything! It was an adjustment for me for sure after being so used to coming home from a long day and wanting to sit on the couch to veg out for a bit before bed to having no alone time. In the beginning, I was not sure if I would ever have any alone time again at night to veg out! Breastfeeding, attending to the baby when crying, swaddling (or trying), putting the baby to sleep, reading about how to care for the baby…..all while being sleep deprived. It took a bit to find our groove, but now we are in it and I love having everything about Xavier. The way he looks at me or looks for me is priceless. It is everything to me.
- Shopping: My sister has two little boys so I received so many hand-me-downs from her that it didn’t even cross my mind to shop for Xavier……that was until he turned three months old. Oh my gosh, shopping for boys is so much fun! Now, shopping for him versus me is all I want to do (note that I did not have any time to shop for myself either during the first three months…haha!). I love shopping and window shopping and never expected to have such desire to shop for Xavier all the time! I am so lucky to have so many hand-me-downs and they are lovely, but I realized that it is also nice to throw in some pieces of my own and to find my own style for my baby.
- Sleep Routine: As I touched on above, I was so used to having nights to decompress after work that starting a consistent sleep routine was really hard for me! I remember thinking I have to do this every night…..ugh! But, that was when I thought Xavier’s bedtime was like 9 PM. Now his bedtime is around 7 PM so we start it around 5:30 PM. This now allows me to have some hours to veg out alone at night with my husband! Funny how that worked out!!!
Anyways, the past seven months have had some adjustments: some hard, some not so hard. I would not trade anything to have evolved into MOMMY! It is the best. Now if only I could get Xavier to say, “momma!”
XOXO,
Dani
Me and the swe-lankan 