Skylar Madison-The First Year

New Year's Resolution 2017: Blog more!

It's HARD to find time to blog at this point in my life, but I have so many things I want to say and write about, so it's a goal of mine this year to make it more of a priority! (Honestly I need to do less Facebook scrolling, and more blog writing...)

Alright, here is a reflection on my first year as a mom...what a year it was!


Mommyhood-1 Year in: A reflection

The days are long, but the years are short.  That's the only thing that runs through my mind today, on Sky's first birthday.

Being a stay at home mom is tough, and the days are so very long.  Mealtimes, nap times, diaper changes, errands, play dates, dinner planning, making, and cleaning, bath times, bed times. Each day is very full, and very very long. And yet, the year went by so fast.

Each stage of the past year has seemed, at the time, to take FOREVER.  It felt like Skylar would always be a newborn that I couldn't take in public (uh hello cold and flu season). I was convinced at the time that I absolutely couldn't take her out of the house for 6 weeks.  It seemed like that 6 week mark would never get here, that we would never be able to leave the house again.  Thankfully, Grandma has always been a source of wisdom and confidence, and saved us on that one. On her urging we went out, into the cold! When she was like 3 weeks old! Everyone survived, and we had a good time too!  But the days are long.

Breastfeeding-ugh. What a stage that was. Again, seemed to take forever.  It felt like I would be nursing forever and ever.  I hated every minute of breastfeeding, (this is my personal issue, if you want to breastfeed you absolutely should and I will support you and give you advice if you want it. It's really just a problem in my own head with my own experience. Sky never had any issues with it, the issue and stress was really all in my head.) It seemed never ending, like I would never figure out a balance, never figure out how not to be embarrassed in public (even with a cover), like Sky would never be old enough to eat food and not nurse.  The days are long.

I started our girl on purees at 4 months (the horror, I know.  See above.). She loved baby food, but it seemed like she would never eat anything that wasn't pureed.  Even at 7 months old she was spitting out or barfing up anything with texture.  The puree days were so very long.

Skylar took forever to sit up, and then crawl, or so it seemed.  She took forever to get teeth.  It took many, many months to get her to sleep through the night.  I could go on, but the point is, the days are long.

But here's the thing about the long days. The years are so short.  Through each stage we'd trudge, put our heads down and move through.  And when I would look up, that stage had passed and we'd be on to the next.  The days are long, but the years are so very short.

I had a LOT of support during these long days.  I couldn't have made it without the advice from my mom, mother-in-law, and many other seasoned moms.  I have to give a specific nod to my cousin Desi though, she was SO helpful.  In every stage I would ask her advice, and she always told me her experiences, and gave me confidence that I was doing the right thing.  So thanks Dez, I hope I can repay you for this one of these days, because you were paramount in my success during the first year of mommy hood!

Not every day is a struggle, and not every stage is awful.  The stage of being able to take her places while she would just sleep in the carseat was awesome.  The time from 1 month-5 months when she actually slept through the night was awesome.  The first time she said Dada, we thought we might just melt into a puddle.  We taught her to say woof woof when she sees a dog, and it's so adorable. Right now is a really fun stage too, she is like a sponge and learns many new things every day.  She's got a dimple on one side when she smiles really big, and is very very smart!

The point of this post is this: The days of this year have been so long. Some days I wasn't sure I would make it through. But I did.  And the year itself has gone by so quickly.  New Mommas, know that you won't enjoy every day, some days you just have to get through.  But once you do, 1 year will pass before you know it.

Now it's on to the next stage for Sky, toddlerhood.  I'm slightly terrified, but also really, really excited to see her personality develop further, to hear her talk in sentences, and see how she shines as a big sister!

Momma loves you so very much Skylar, we'll get through these long days together!