Mama diary - 2 months

Little A is now 9 weeks old. Time flies so fast seeing her grow up and reaching those little milestones - her first smile, coo, sleeping 6 hours straight and generally starting to settle a lot better. I would describe motherhood as one large experiment that requires a lot of patience and perseverance. Things that worked in the first few weeks stop working, things that didn't work ends up working.

So what have I learnt so far?

Don't expect to be perfect.
The most stressful times I had was when I wanted everything to work out. Little A would be doing normal newborn things such as crying...and crying... and crying but firstly I was afraid that I would look bad in front of my in laws so all I wanted was for her to stop crying. Sometimes I don't know why she would cry and I would get frustrated but then the guilt would set in because she can't communicate in any other way except for crying. Then there is the thing of us living in the age of information. Yes information can help - I have been guilty of googling a lot to reassure myself that it's normal and I would only trust reliable sources such as Babycentre (not the forums). But then there is also too much information or rather opinions online and some of it did make me feel bad. To have a routine or not? To co-sleep or not? Should we use a dummy? Swaddle or not swaddle? Leave her to sleep in the capsule or not? What I have found is that tiredness is probably the most dangerous thing for your newborn. There are risks to all of those things mentioned above but having a baby that doesn't sleep and as a result, you lose sleep is even more harmful. When I'm tired, I find I get frustrated easily, I don't bond as well with her and as a result she cries even more and then the cycle gets bigger. Also when you're tired there are simple things such as walking becomes a hazard cause your balance is that much more off and forgetfulness sets in too. In the end we did co-sleep a bit in the morning hours and it helped the both of us so much more.

Be thankful for the little things.
There is nothing more rewarding than seeing your little one smile at you for the first time. No matter how bad the night has been, once she is awake and gives you that smile, your heart will melt.

I am thankful that I have a little one who can sleep pretty well. At first she was very clingy and now as she is older, I can put her down by herself and she can sleep longer stretches. Every child is different and when I expected her to be able to sleep by herself and tried to do all the training, I just got frustrated. I decided to let it go and as the weeks go by she has learnt by herself. I wish I had saved myself from the stress before hand in getting her to be the 'perfect sleeping' baby and just let her grow and develop.

I am thankful she takes injections quite well given that I hate injections. She will only protest for 30 secs and once I give her a cuddle she is fine.

I'm thankful that she loves music and that always calms her.

I'm thankful that there are so many people around her who loves her so much.

Finally I'm really thankful that she got to meet my grandma.. Her great-gran!

Some useful articles that I wish I'd read sooner.
This article is so true and I think every new mother should read this:
The newborn survival guide http://www.ohbaby.co.nz/blogs/-/plus1/2012/7/9/the-newborn-survival-guide/
Tips for bonding with grandparents http://grandparents.about.com/od/growingintoyournewrole/a/Bonding-With-A-New-Grandchild.htm

Finally, I saw this canvas at one of our favourite coffee places and is something I want to give to little A :)

We love you Annabel! :)