If you look closely, you can see the hereditary cowlick
I knew that life with a newborn was going to be hard, but I didn't know it was going to be this hard. Don't get me wrong; I feel incredibly fortunate that Henry arrived safely and I am so thankful for our expanding family. But it took a couple of weeks to mourn the loss of pieces of my former identity and to embrace my new role as mother.
Day in and day out, I watch Matt interact with Henry (or our other son--our bloodhound Hoss), and I am so thankful that we found each other and that we committed to each other on our wedding day in 2008. The stress I felt about whether people would find our used-sheets-as-tablecloths tacky or whether my dress made me look wider than I actually was fades into the background.
In the foreground is our relationship and our partnership. I see Matt doing load after load of laundry so we have plenty of cloth diapers on hand. I see him volunteering to wear Henry in the Ergo carrier for yet another two-hour nap, so I can have some time to myself. I see him standing over me asking if I need a washcloth, as I hunch over the toilet vomiting from food poisoning in between breast feeding sessions with Henry.
Planning a wedding can somehow get your perspective all out of whack. At the end of the day, we have to remember not to let the wedding overshadow our relationships. No matter what goes wrong or who gets upset about how something is being done, what matters is your partnership and the lifetime commitment that you're making. The person standing next to you at the end of the aisle (or, in our case, in front of picnic benches) is the person who's going to stand next to you for everything else, too.
Day in and day out, I watch Matt interact with Henry (or our other son--our bloodhound Hoss), and I am so thankful that we found each other and that we committed to each other on our wedding day in 2008. The stress I felt about whether people would find our used-sheets-as-tablecloths tacky or whether my dress made me look wider than I actually was fades into the background.
In the foreground is our relationship and our partnership. I see Matt doing load after load of laundry so we have plenty of cloth diapers on hand. I see him volunteering to wear Henry in the Ergo carrier for yet another two-hour nap, so I can have some time to myself. I see him standing over me asking if I need a washcloth, as I hunch over the toilet vomiting from food poisoning in between breast feeding sessions with Henry.
Planning a wedding can somehow get your perspective all out of whack. At the end of the day, we have to remember not to let the wedding overshadow our relationships. No matter what goes wrong or who gets upset about how something is being done, what matters is your partnership and the lifetime commitment that you're making. The person standing next to you at the end of the aisle (or, in our case, in front of picnic benches) is the person who's going to stand next to you for everything else, too.
3 comments:
So true <3
Couldn't have been a more perfect post for me today!
Aw, mama, this post is so right on. I think that it's true for everybody, but especially for people who become parents. My stressing over wedding decorations doesn't even sort of compare to the stress i felt when my first baby was up at night with a fever that i couldn't get to go down.
I'm so glad that the three of you have each other. And you're doing a great job being mommy. I know everybody says it, but it does get easier! I'm on baby #2, and it's still hard, but not in the way it was in the first months of my oldest daughter's life. You'll all learn together and teach each other.
And I totally love the hereditary cowlick!
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