Ahhh the joys of parenting. Somedays I just have to laugh at myself and question: “how did I end up being THAT mom?” Please tell me you’ve asked yourself the same question at least ONCE in your entire parenthood span?! Here is a look at the mom that I swore I was going to be versus that mom that I ended up being….enjoy!
Lets start off with the basics of what the baby needed right away: nutrition. Having worked for a nutrition education program that was totally pro-breastfeeding, it was engrained in my head that my baby was going to be breastfed for at least a year and that it was going to be easy. I knew that breast pumps and lactation consultants existed and that there were all sorts of advocacy groups and support systems around to help if needed. Well, as a working mom at the time that my first daughter, Charli was born, I only ended up exclusively breastfeeding her for about 2 months before I had to go back to work. Well, lets just say that my supply wasn’t meeting demand and we ended up having to supplement with formula. I was not blessed with the gift of abundant milk supply, so pumping was less than fun for me and more times than not, it was a stressful time because I felt pressure to keep up the bags of milk for her next days stash. After about 2 months of pumping, I gave up on it. I ended up nursing her at home when I was there and we gave her formula when I was at work. At five months, she ended up a completely formula-fed baby. So much for that plan of getting to the 1 year mark. Now that I am a SAHM with a new baby, we have already surpassed the 5 month breastfeeding mark and are still going strong! My views are still the same on this topic; that it is the ideal nutrition for babies and that I recommend it! The bonding experience is amazing and it makes me so proud to come this far.
The next thing that I thought I would master for Charli was baby food. Seeing as I have a degree in nutrition, you would think I would have books on baby food and all sorts of cook books on how to make your own pureed foods for your little one. I mean, who doesn’t want the best homemade, organic, no artificial ingredients baby food for their little one? My sister (who was our nanny for 2 years) and I tried making about 4 different baby foods: pears, carrots, sweet potatoes and peas. With our cute little baby jars in the refrigerator awaiting her next feeding session. Sure, that lasted a couple of weeks. Truth is, we got lazy. Neither of us wanted to actually prepare the foods and take the time to store them in the cute baby food jars anymore. Thank you store bought jar foods for giving us a little more time in our lives to get other chores around the house done. At least we tried, right?
Now lets talk fashion for a minute. We didn’t find out the gender of our first child, so it was all neutral colors and themes until the big day came. I’m not a very fashionable person and neither is my husband. It was a pretty easy decision to keep our kid in simple onesies and pants. I always swore that I would never put those huge bows on my kid either…that they were ridiculous and made the kid look so overdone. Well, we ended up having a girl….and then another girl. We have a drawer FULL of bows and a closet full of dresses. I am starting to become more fashion savvy with the girls and seeing what I can get away with on them. Both girls get a bow everyday and I’m working on some totally cute shoes at the moment. I think my husband is sick of me asking: “doesn’t she look cute in this?”.
I love the idea of being the arts-and-crafts mom. How cute is it to see baby memorabilia of footprints and hand molds hanging up in the house? Or picture collages of the family all cute and organized into frames hanging up in the living room. I have tons of my old stuff that my parents kept from when I was little. My daughter is 2 and half years old now and we only have 2 paintings done by her hung up in the house…total fail. How am I supposed to look back at her baby art when there is hardly anything there to look at in the first place?? I totally missed the DIY party train with her. (I think I am “clean freak” mom).
Lastly, a big topic in the world of parenting: how to discipline your child. Since I came from a household that believed in spanking, I kind of always thought that was OK to do. But thinking about it more, does it really solve anything? Did I really learn a lesson from it when I was little? My dad would always put my sister and I in “time-out”, while my mom would give us a smack on the bottom. I thought that I would be the mom that would put my kid in a corner and have them sit there until they learned their lesson. Instead, I’ve just created a monster who tells me “no” and goes on doing her own thing until I give into her. I have totally caved as a mother and most of the time, I let her win. She’s definitely a toddler with a strong will and knows how to win me over….Darn it! I’ve let a two year old determine her punishment. Gahhh. Most days, I just give into her because of the guilt I feel for not giving her my 100% attention nowadays because of the baby in the house. Plus, she’s so cute, it’s hard for me to stay mad at her. I’ve determined I have no skills in the discipline department. I’m all over the place and nothing is consistent.
What are some things that you swore you would do or NOT do before you had your kid? Were you firm on your decisions or did they go not as planned? Did you think you would do things differently as a parent?I’d love to hear your stories!
-Kim
