I am so close I can almost taste it. To having a baby with three (somewhat predictable) naps. A baby who can sometimes nap without being on me. A baby who can sit up on her own but can’t yet get away from me. A baby I can wear on my back, leave on her tummy for a minute, sit next to me on the carpet…
Many parents are thinking about intimacy after baby and that’s great. In a PEPS Group, parents may find it a safe place to talk about it. Some may be wondering, just like with baby’s sleep patterns, “are other parents experiencing the same things we are?” “Are things ever going to return to ‘normal’?”
The best thing (and also the most challenging thing) about parenting is that there is not just one way to do it. Everyone is figuring it out as we go. What works for one family doesn’t work for another, and that’s ok!
It’s impossible to understand how scary it is until it happens to you. There you sit, staring at the door, huge bag fully packed, tiny newborn in your arms wearing her seventh clean outfit of the morning. You finally made it happen. So why can’t you walk out that door?
We all want to be the best parents we can be, and in the early months and years of parenting, we are bombarded by developmental studies, books by experts, and advice from strangers about what is best for our children. The desire to get it right can breed anxiety, fear, and self-doubt.
Finally we have the true roller coaster that is parenting. It can lift you, windswept, to breathtaking heights you never knew existed, and then drop you so fast it leaves you spinning and wanting to throw up.
I’ll never forget the quote of a dear friend who enlightened me on the experience of new fathers. He said, “I was prepared to be a father, but I was not prepared to be married to a mother”.