I am very disappointed with myself for not keeping up with my blog. I had the best intentions to write each week about all our adventures, ups, downs, and views on parenting. I got three blogs in and life just got too busy. I got sidetracked with all those adventures, ups and downs, work, coffee groups, walks, more coffee, cleaning, cooking… oh, and being a wife. But that’s life right? Whether you’re a Mum or not, life get’s busy. Best intentions are something we all have, but things don’t always work out the way we planned. For a planner like myself this is sometimes hard to accept, but it is a good lesson for me that I can’t control everything in this world. Parenting is sure teaching me that more than anything!
It is such a juggling act, being a Mum. Some days I feel like a real pro; all the balls are in the air, I’m juggling with grace, Aiden is happy, I’m happy – life is organised and things go to plan. Other days I feel like there are too many balls to juggle, I get overwhelmed and they all fall to the floor. I have always had trouble concentrating on more than one major thing at a time. It is a blessing and a curse. I get really tunnel vision and focused on things, which usually leaves little time or thought for anything else. If something big is going on in my life – I focus on it and it’s like nothing else exists. Bill says it’s amazing to watch as I have amazing determination when I get fixated on a project. Naturally, Aiden has been my project since he was born (even before that, if we’re being honest). This last year has been a big challenge for me because there are other things outside of being a Mum that I have needed to focus on as well. Things that I have taken such pride in in the past, like my friendships, relationships in my family and work. When you first have a baby, you don’t have any time for much outside of baby anymore, so I worried that these things I had worked so hard to establish would fall by the wayside. Thankfully they didn’t, because people understand. Maybe not all people, but the people in my life do.
It is such a cliché to say, but it’s all about balance. I think we all get so excited about reaching that 1 year milestone because that entire first year of parenting is about figuring stuff out and finding the balance that works for your family. Whilst it is an amazing adventure and more fun with each month, it’s bloody hard work too and such a MASSIVE change to your life. It’s no wonder we all shout out “WE MADE IT!" when the babies turn One.
I guess there are more and more challenges with each year… I look at some of my friends with 3 or 4 children and wonder how on earth they do it. I’m such an amateur juggler, they are the pro’s in a full ring circus.
I’m not the only one juggling and learning. Aiden is a constant source of amazement and entertainment with his development. Considering he didn’t know he had hands & feet 10 months ago, it’s pretty cool what he can do with them these days.
He had decided that the best way to get around is ‘commando’ crawling at 7 months. If you’ve not seen this before, I highly recommend it. It’s hilarious. He moves like an army cadet under a net. More recently he’s started the traditional style of crawling, and I must admit, I miss the old way. He’s also taken to standing up and cruising along furniture and getting into everything within our reach (and sometimes out of it). His favourite activities over the past few weeks have been playing with balls (which ties in nicely with my juggling theme, thanks Aiden) or anything with wheels, sorting shapes and stalking the cat. Stalking the cat never gets old… will it ever?
Not unexpectedly, he is a bit of a chatterbox (go figure). His vocabulary includes Mum, Mumma, Dad, Dadadadadad, bub, yes, up, ta and dodo (which we think is doodle – typical male). A word that resembles NO comes out every now and again too, but I am choosing to ignore that one for now.
It’s time for this chatterbox to finish up this post with my New Years' Resolution – I will be better at my blog, I will!
When you say "I will" with resolution, you usually mean it. So I can look forward to lots more posts like this - yay!
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