Mother First

Brandon covered Alice's six months birthday already, but I wanted to hit a little bit on how my life has changed. This isn't a poor me I have no life post, because I do, and it's a weepy and cheesy I'm so happy I have a baby post, though I am. This is a look at how my life has changed in the last six months.  I covered this a bit on the five months post, but now I've taken a closer look at my life and I encourage other first time parents to do the same.

Alice and I go out every Wednesday with a
friend for breakfast. See, I still have a life.

Alice and I ran around all morning to get things ready for tomorrow, we're closing on our house. (Yikes!) Originally I was going to end our time out by having lunch with a friend, but she wasn't available to do that until 2:00pm. I looked at the text, the first thing that crossed my mind was not 'wow, that's late for lunch.' it was 'Alice should be napping by then!' Every now and then I make the choice to miss nap time for something, and I deal with the consequences, but Alice hasn't taken a nap in three days. (This is because she has refused to sleep during her nap time, despite being tired.) She has also not slept through the night since those teeth have started coming in. I politely texted my friend back that we'd have to reschedule, and she understood because she's that kind of friend.

That was when I realized that my life really has shifted. I've grown up, and by that I don't mean I've given up on anything. Alice comes first in my life, as she should. I go to bed before or around ten now, even if what I wanted to accomplish isn't don. I get up without question when I hear her crying, I feed her, I cuddle her, I talk to her. My morning is spent playing with her on the floor or entertaining her in the piano, while my afternoon (when she's supposed to be napping) is spent cleaning up the house. When she wakes, I spend more time on the floor with her until it's time for me to cook dinner and then she plays in her piano and entertains herself for the most part.

This is when daddy gets home normally. We eat dinner, we feed Alice, bath her, read her a story, give her cuddles, and then we put her to bed. If Brandon's not in town or running late, I do that on my own. Alice has done well with her sleep training so most nights now she goes down with out screaming for an hour. (Woohoo!) I put away left overs, most of the time I make Brandon's lunch, take a shower, and maybe get a chance to do something I want to do before going to bed. Half the time I'm too tired so I stare blankly at Facebook and drool.

Now, I know that someone is going to mention but you're ALWAYS on the computer. Not true, most of the time my computer is on so I can stream Pandora because I want Alice to be listening to music. As a result It's always open, messengers are signed in, but as people who try to talk to me will tell you...I don't always answer right away.

I watch a lot less tv during the day, if I want to go out without Alice, then I plan it at least a week ahead of time. I avoid staying up too late because I know that in two to four hours Alice will be up and wanting to eat. When Brandon and I go out and take Alice with us, we always go to family friendly places and we try not to stay out passed bedtime. This is us as a family, we have our values our priorities. We know how we want to raise Alice, she will have all the love, care and nurturing that she needs to grow up into a strong, confident person.

I encourage you, if you're expecting your first child, or have your first already. Look at your life, think about your priorities. Is your child first in your life?

Now I know some of you have jobs and I'm not saying neglect your job for your child, not everyone is lucky enough to be a stay at home mom. I'm not saying you're a horrible mother if your life and views differ from what I have talked about today. This isn't about judging. This is about how I grew up in six months, where I've been and where I'm going.

This is how I am. I am a mother before all else.