My daughter is now 15 months old (nearing 16), and my husband and I are just now getting to take a breather. It's been a difficult year. The lack of sleep for the first eleven months of our adventure in parenting caused it to feel a little more like eleven years. I remember people telling us that the first year of marriage would be the hardest. That we should just prepare ourselves because it would get better. Well, our first year(s) were great. We really never argued and although we were attending school full time and working nearly full time, we always had time to spend together.
People never warned us about the first year of parenting. Sure, there was that whole 'Having a baby changes everything' thing, but really. Does that even need to be said? Obviously when a small person exits your uterus (shudder), things are going to be different. I guess it's true that unless you've experienced parenting firsthand, you won't quite understand what it entails, but come on, at least give a girl a clue. Oh, but once we had the baby, the advice-givers (that's a word. really) came out of the wood works. Not really helpful. Especially when we were running on about two hours of sleep between us and all we really needed was not advice, but for the person giving it to take our daughter for a little while and let us sleep.
So, we had a hard, sleep-deprived year and we're just getting to the point that we can spend some time together. For awhile it felt more like we were co-workers just working alongside each other and trying to stay afloat in a never-ending job. With a boss that screamed for at least four months straight at a volume that made our ears bleed, and then intermittently after that for another three months. I just think that either A LOT of people are lying about how easy it was to have a baby, or we just got a raw deal. But now that all of that is behind us, we feel like we can conquer anything. We are now able to truly appreciate her good moments because we know how bad things can get. It's easy to take things for granted when they come easy all of the time.
Now my husband and I have a few hours each night to spend together without our little marsh mellow screaming (now she does it for fun) into our now shell-shocked eardrums. We appreciate the little things that we are able to do, like finish an entire movie, or even TV show in one setting. We've even been playing video games. I will admit to liking video games, mostly because we have Star Wars Battlefront and I can be Chewbacca and make all the funny Chewy sounds.
People never warned us about the first year of parenting. Sure, there was that whole 'Having a baby changes everything' thing, but really. Does that even need to be said? Obviously when a small person exits your uterus (shudder), things are going to be different. I guess it's true that unless you've experienced parenting firsthand, you won't quite understand what it entails, but come on, at least give a girl a clue. Oh, but once we had the baby, the advice-givers (that's a word. really) came out of the wood works. Not really helpful. Especially when we were running on about two hours of sleep between us and all we really needed was not advice, but for the person giving it to take our daughter for a little while and let us sleep.
So, we had a hard, sleep-deprived year and we're just getting to the point that we can spend some time together. For awhile it felt more like we were co-workers just working alongside each other and trying to stay afloat in a never-ending job. With a boss that screamed for at least four months straight at a volume that made our ears bleed, and then intermittently after that for another three months. I just think that either A LOT of people are lying about how easy it was to have a baby, or we just got a raw deal. But now that all of that is behind us, we feel like we can conquer anything. We are now able to truly appreciate her good moments because we know how bad things can get. It's easy to take things for granted when they come easy all of the time.
Now my husband and I have a few hours each night to spend together without our little marsh mellow screaming (now she does it for fun) into our now shell-shocked eardrums. We appreciate the little things that we are able to do, like finish an entire movie, or even TV show in one setting. We've even been playing video games. I will admit to liking video games, mostly because we have Star Wars Battlefront and I can be Chewbacca and make all the funny Chewy sounds.
*Side Note: We've been watching the X-Files on DVD which are sometimes creepy, but mostly just humorous because a.) hello, early nineties TV series! Can't get much better than beige, over sized pantsuits and poofy hair, and b.) Scully and Mulder go to all sorts of exotic locations. Like Mattawa Washington. Seriously, for those of you who know, who goes to Mattawa on purpose? Although, I guess there is a possibility of aliens there. They're just more of the illegal type. But seriously? Mattawa! We were laughing so hard! And they filmed the series in Vancouver, BC so they made it look all forest-y instead of a desert wasteland like it really is. I guess it also made it into a Johnny Cash song though, so what do I know.
Anyway. It's been nice. I almost feel like a real person again (and I know by saying that, I'm just asking for another little bundle of joy to come along and scream in my ear). But honestly. I wouldn't trade any of it (okay, maybe some of it) because our daughter is starting to show her hilarious personality that has stemmed from her ridiculously strong will. It will never be easy with her, and I'm already starting to see that, but we know that she was made just for us. We don't like to sit still very often and neither does she, so at least we'll never be bored.
"How little a thing can make us happy when we feel that we have earned it."
--Mark Twain
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