Wednesday, 10 July 2013

This Baby

It always bothers me when people boast about what an easy baby they have - or on the other extreme, complain about what a tough baby they have. It's not that I don't doubt that their babies are awesome, or challenging, but aren't all babies a little bit of both?
I'd like to think we have a great baby - she's smart, clever, and absolutely beautiful. She has her bad days too, her cranky and sad and overtired days. Does that mean I like her more or less on those days? No way! She's a baby. She's allowed to have her good and her bad days - just like I have them, her dad has them, everyone has them.
Georgia is growing quickly! Her 000 clothes, that she took so long to get into, are starting to grow snug - already. She is cooing and babbling and chuckling, and it melts my heart to see her break into that huge gummy smile.
Sometimes I'm sad to say goodbye to my tiny, helpless newborn - but other days, most days, I'm so excited to see the person she's growing into. I'm biased, I know, but she really does get more beautiful by the day.
Edit: A friend sent me a message {which I appreciate} letting me know that parts of this post came across as being judgemental, and for that I wanted to apologise. Lord knows, that's the last thing I wanted from it. I've felt inferior to many people since becoming a mum, and it's an awful feeling, and I'm sorry.

Lately I've been surrounded by two kinds of people. The boasters {which is all well and good - I get it - we love our kids!} that go on and on about the achievements their kids have made & have little sympathy for us normal folk and our babies. And the complainers - and when I say that, I mean the type that have made their minds up about the fact that their kid is obviously a hindrance, and who don't want, or respond to, the advice and suggestions given by others. These extremes are what make me twitchy: we're all human, can't we just own up to it?

I would never judge anyone who was legitimately struggling, having a rough day, or needing advice. I've been there & I will no doubt be there again. And I hope that those mums, myself included, feel comfortable enough to reach out and ask for that support. I also hope that those people with their wonderfully perfect babies can reach out and offer support and guidance to those mums who aren't so lucky. 
Yes, as I mentioned before, I believe Georgia {and myself} to be in a little of both worlds, but I have my days where my Twitter-feed is ablaze with questions I've posed to other, more experienced mums - I'd be lost without them!

2 comments:

  1. I know what you mean, but every experience is so different. My son was very sick, with no real known cause, for the first 5mo. By month 4 he SCREAMED literally 8+ hours per day. It was a level of difficulty that I didn't know existed. We thought we had ruined our lives, and we were losing it. Thankfully our amazing doctors helped figure out what was going on, and at a year he's now an awesome, funny, loving little guy. It's easy to judge, but I've realized that parenthood is so different for each family, and we're all just doing the best we can.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am so with you. We have days where H is all smiles and personality. Then we have days, like yesterday, where he's just fussy or screaming and we're all unhappy. It happens. Your sweet Georgia (my future daughter in law :) ) is just too precious for words even on her bad days!

    ReplyDelete

Spare a thought?