MommyHood: Month One

I will try to write this post without being overly cliche or cheesy, but can make no guarantees. My first month of motherhood has been amazing, fun, full-filling, challenging, frustrating, exciting, overwhelming and more. People tell you it will be all of these things, but there is no way to appreciate all of the above until you actually go through it. I know that we are in sweet spot right now - I am still on maternity leave for another eight weeks and Henrik still sleeps a lot and is not mobile.

 If you've been reading my blog for awhile or know me personally, you know I tend to anticipate the worst and then am surprised when it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Case in point, my post on surprising things about labor and delivery. Same can be said regarding the first month as a mother. I was anticipating at least two weeks before I felt up to leaving the house and was surprised that five days later, I was dying to do something other than watch TV while Henrik slept. I was also anticipating spending a majority of my leave sleep deprived and trying to fit in as many naps as possible and have been surprised by how well I can do off of six (non consecutive hours) of sleep and the very few naps I have actually needed.

I have also surprised myself with how comfortable I have been with the baby - relative to how worked up I thought I would be. I thought I would totally be one of "those" moms who are calling the doctor once a week and panicking about everything. The first couple of weeks, I think I was "that" mom, taking his temperature all the time and convinced that a sneeze was the start of cancer. His early arrival did not help as premies  - even premies who were as large as he was - are at higher risk for a lot of things. I have found myself relaxing more each day and have cut back on the disinfecting of everything he could potentially come in contact with.

Everyone tells you how much your life will change once you have a baby and I totally agree with that, but at the same time I am surprised (what is another word for 'surprised'?) by how little our life has changed. Pre-baby, I envisioned our life coming to a complete stop once he arrived - no more dinners out, no more relaxing watching my trashy TV, trying to squeeze a shower in, etc. While these things have changed (deciding if we are going to grab a bite out totally depends on how Henrik is feeling that day and squeezing a shower in is questionable some days), it's nice to find out that pre-baby life doesn't come to a screeching halt with Henrik's arrival. (I am anticipating reduced trash-TV time once I head back to work.)

The thing I am enjoying the most about being a mother, is watching him develop on daily basis. He's four weeks old and asleep most of the time. But when he's awake, I can literally just stare at him as he looks around and starts to take in the environment around him. He makes the cutest noises when he is super content and I just sit and wonder what's going through his head. I'm starting to pick up on his different cries and know what he needs based on his cry and time of day, which makes things easier for everyone in the house (the dogs included.)

Looking back on the past 30 days, I can't believe he's a month old already. At the same time, he's fit into our life so well that I can't believe it's only been a month since his arrival. He's changed so much in the first 30 days and I can't wait to watch him over the next 30 and beyond.