We tried for years to get pregnant and I desperately wanted a baby. Now that we are expecting I am terrified of the change. What do you like most about being a parent?
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The hugs. His cute little face. The "I love you, mommy"'s.
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it's amazing watching them turn into their own little person, and you can talk about them endlessly with your so because you know everything about them. you know them better than anyone else in the entire world!
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I honestly just love hanging out with my LO--I know it's because she's mine, but I honestly think she is the cutest, funniest, most clever girl in the world, haha. The smallest things that she learns just brings so much joy to our lives.
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I love spending all my time with my favorite person. Kid's my best friend. I love loving someone so much. It is a learning process, being a parent has made me a better person and really been the light of my life.
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I love the snuggles, I love when DH and I and LO are all silly together and make it each laugh, and every so often she goes through some developmental thing (right now a language explosion) that blows my mind. It's really amazing watching a baby turn into a little person!
Having her has also filled a hole in my heart that I've had since my mom died. It's a cliche, but it really is impossible to describe the love of a mother for her child.
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The love. Everything about it - the snuggles, the hugs, the kisses, etc. Watching them learn from you is also amazing.
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Thank you for the responses! I am tearing up a bit.
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Watching him sleep. He is so peaceful and sweet. There is nothing better. Though his laugh and smiles are a close second!
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Specifically:
The way he gives me kisses.
The way he KNOWS, has always known, that I'm his Mama.
The way he lights up and runs to me, screaming "Mommmyyyy!!!!" when I pick him up from...anywhere.
The way he knows his lullabies and wants to sing them together "Evan and Mommy sing!"
How delighted he is to learn to do something new ("I did it!")
The way he reminds me to say "You're welcome" when he says "thank you".
The way he always wants to hold my hand.
Seeing the world through his excited, fresh eyes.
How proud I am of how much he's thriving and how happy and smart he is.
The way a hug and nuzzle can completely negate a bad day. -
-The smiles at 3am during a diaper change
-The sleepy cuddles at the end of a long, hard day
-Listening to her "talk" as I read her stories
-Watching her coo and flail her legs around in the bouncer or the activity gym
-Watching DH with her, being mushy and concerned and the best Daddy
-Raising this miracle with DH, in a partnership. Making silly decisions with him, like whether to size up in diapers and whether to swaddle-wean.
-Getting "Mom Power", which is the ability to keep going even when you are exhausted, the ability to stand up to family and strangers as Mama Bear, because you know baby best.Congratulations! I also wanted a baby desperately. While the change is huge and nothing will ever be the same, it is amazing.
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I love that they each have their own little personalities. I just love the way their eyes light up at new things, at the wonder of what's out there, at the way they're growing into completely independent, unique little individuals of their own. I love the way they smother me with kisses and hugs, and will stop whatever they are doing to kiss all my booboos away (sometimes I take advantage of this by having a booboo that's not really a booboo hehe). There are so many things! Their chubs, their little hands and feet, learning their preferences, watching them act SO PROUD when they learn something new or figure out something they couldn't do before. There are a million things that make all the hard days worth it. Experiencing this mother's love is so so incredible. It is really unlike any other.
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Right now I'm only two months in but the best parts so far are:
When I feel like my heart is going to explode every time I see her with her Daddy. He sings her songs, gives her so many kisses, and is just so sweet to her. The best.
I just love the low key cuddle time. Right now we usually stay in bed until 9-10 after her wake up around 6 I feed her- sometimes we snooze a little more. But as long as she happy we just cuddle in bed.
I like our new pace of life. I was always so busy with tons of appointments and get togethers. It's been nice to just slow down and have nothing to do but love on my daughter.
ETA the first month was rough, but I feel like my marriage is in such a good spot. Having a baby has made us more of a team then we were before. I feel like we depend on eachother so much more in a good way. It's been really awesome to become parents together.
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I love being able to see the world again from that excited kid perspective. Everything is fun again! Also every time he learns something new. Getting to see all of his growth and how is becoming an individual. Every hug and kiss and "I love you mommy".
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Oh wow, just one thing? That's tough. I feel like DD is the best thing I've ever done and I so enjoy the little person she's becoming. The best thing is the love. The love I feel for her. The love I feel for DH when he interacts with her. The love she has for me. The love she brings to others... It's just so rewarding and awesome.
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Watching their wonder and excitement as they learn new things, and seeing them get what my dad calls the "whole body smile" when they spot me or DH - eyes lit up, a happy wiggle, a shout of "mama!" from my toddler or a happy squeal from my 3 month old. Experiencing joy and love with them is basically what it comes down to.
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I love the love!!! I love how they love me - the kisses, smiles, hugs, excitement to see me, wanting my attention and comfort, etc. I love seeing how DH loves them and what a good dad he is. I love showing them love - taking care of them, rocking them to sleep, etc.
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@Alivoo01: same!
The love and all that it entails... It's such an indescribable, heart melting, physically numbing type of love/adoration.
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I agree with others-the love that they feel for me and that I feel fro them. It's indescribable, really. I cannot imagine loving anything more than those two little people.
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Seeing his little personality blossom
Watching him change and develop new skills almost overnight
The way his face lights up when daddy comes home
3am smiles
He's only 6.5m - can't wait for the talking!
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Everything. I look at her everyday and can't believe I grew her inside my body and somehow pushed her out! And she really changes every single day. It's pure joy when she learns something new, when she smiles at me, when she cuddles next to me... The love that you have for your child (even when you're sleep deprived, stressed out, nervous, etc...) is just explosive and so much more than words can say!
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So much. Just watching him become himself. The more he grows the more I learn about him. The snuggles and hugs. The giggles. There's so much to love about having a LO
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Our LO is only 4 months but I'm loving her giggles and seeing her smile at people she knows.
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My kid is amazing and I love watching his personality emerge. He started talking several month ago and I am still slightly shocked every time he learns a new word. And he gives the best "hugs". (He hugs by leaning into me for a snuggle but he doesn't use his arms.)
To be honest, it took me 7-8 months to get to this spot. He started to be really awesome (to me) when he started crawling and could interact/explore more with the world. Before that, he was still cute but it was just such an overwhelming amount of work that I struggled to enjoy being a parent. I'm not saying this to scare you but rather to help you keep perspective in case this happens to you too. You should have some faith that eventually you will be head over heels even if there is an adjustment period first.
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@ELBIEKAY I appreciate that advice. So far pregnancy is nothing like I expected, so much harder, and so I worry about parenting. It's good to know that even if it takes time, it comes.
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It doesn't matter if I say it to him first or not, but he always says, "I love you too, mommy" when he's snuggling.
@Keybee: I also wanted to comment that you don't have to love everything right away. It took us a long time and a few losses before we had LO. I had a tough pregnancy, and though I felt very blessed to finally be pregnant with a healthy baby, but I hated pregnancy.
LO had a rough entry into the world...an emergency C-section and a 2 day NICU stay, and was incredibly colicky for the first 3 months. I was going out of my mind and felt so guilty because we worked so hard to have him. He didn't really start to get better until I went back to work at 4 months, and even then, it took him until he was 6 months to become a happy baby.
Now that he's 2.5, we still have our challenges, but it's far more rewarding. He's become very verbal, and is really such a loving and happy little boy. This is what I've been waiting for.
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I also wanted to echo what @ElbieKay: and @2PeasinaPod: said. I really didn't enjoy the baby stage, and that first year was a huge transition for me as a first time mom. I really had to "mourn" my previous life without kids, and everything felt so hard - the sporadic sleeping, the figuring out what next (like how to transition to solids, how to drop feedings, how much to feed, how to get them to nap, breastfeeding, etc)... it was definitely an adjustment period, but it eventually became my new normal.
Now that my kids are 2 and 4... I cannot even imagine my world without them. Days felt so long that first year (esp the first 6 months)... but now when I look back on it it really was just a short blip in time. I can't believe how fast it has all gone by.
Just wanted to give you a realistic perspective too. I think if you expect the worst, you'll be pleasantly surprised! It is definitely not all rainbows and unicorns. The love you'll have for your kids will be enormous, and there will be some (who am I kidding - A LOT of) long, hard days... but they really do pass by in a flash. And I'm not to tell you to enjoy every minute because I sure didn't. But I will tell you that before you know it, you'll be on the other side! The hard work and sacrifice is so worth it.
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@Keybee: I felt the exact same as you! 6 weeks after our LO was born, I still kinda do! I don't have those lovey dovey feelings for him yet, but I am enjoying the growing and very special relationship I feel developing with him. He doesn't smile yet, but sometimes he just stares at me for minutes at a time, and it looks like he's trying to figure me out.
Sometimes when he's crying, I try everything to soothe him, but nothing works. Finally, I just talk to him close to his ear, and just the sound of my voice calms him. So amazing!
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