Dear Annie is just a week and a half shy of six months old and got her first taste of "big girl" food last night. It is milestones like this cause me to pause and reflect on what it was like hitting these markers with Charlie and how different it is the second time around.
The differences in my perspective between Charlie and Annie been have obvious
from the beginning. Pregnant with Charlie, if asked how far along I was, I
could rattle of that I was 20 weeks, 3 days and 11 hours pregnant and that
she was the length of a banana. I couldn't imagine not knowing how far
along I was with my baby. But alas, pregnant with Annie, when asked I
would pause and say, "ummm, 14 weeks, I think. Maybe 16." After just one
time around pregnancy felt so routine. I didn't read up on what to do or not to do. I just went about my busy life caring for Charlie, at times even forgetting why I was so tired or feeling nausious. She was just there, growing
and squirming inside of me. I cherrished the kicks and hicups but
couldn't ever compare her to my produce purchases.
With sweet Charlie I was always anxious and pushing to reach the next milestone. Excited to get to first foods, sitting up and crawling. Reading, reading, reading to make sure we did things just right. The second time around? Well, I like it. It's been comfortable. Not nearly as many worries, hardly a page turned in research. I've been cherishing each phase and been in no hurry to reach the next. Take last night's first taste of rice cereal. There was little fanfair. I was wanting to start solids sometime before her six month check up incase any questions came up but I've been putting it off because I know it adds one more piece to our routine and, well, breast milk diapers are just so much more pleasant than solid food diapers. We had the cereal, a bit of "mommy milk," and a bit of free time so we went for it. It is still so much fun to see her reaction to the food and best of all was when Charlie asked to feed her. It was adorable! (and, on a side note, I think it might just be ingrained in us from the very begining to open our mouths when feeding a baby. Charlie did it with every single scoop. Funny, huh?)
Being a fisrt time mommy is wonderful, everything is so new and exciting. But I like being a second time mommy too, because it's all familiar and I can just sit back and take it as it comes.
How about you friend? Do you have more than one kiddo? How have you noticed your perspective changing with each child?
In Him,
Kim
Yep. It changes with every child. But I'm with you,I like the little bit of confidence we get from having "been there done that" a time or two. And I totally hate adding solid foods. Most tedious part of babyhood. I just started my six month old on them. I'm already trying to teach him how to suck the baby food out of those pouches they started making. Best. Invention. Ever. They're expensive but totally worth it. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up at the Parenthood this week! Your babies are precious!