The first year

Some people may argue with me on this statement, but I'm gonna write it anyway: The first year of a child's life is the hardest! Now my oldest is only 2 so I've got plenty of years ahead of me including the teenage years, but so far, the first year of both my kids' lives have been difficult. One reason it is difficult is the lack of sleep! Little E, my youngest, is now 6 months and he's had plenty of nights where he went to bed at 7:15 and didn't wake up till the next morning at 5 am. He started doing this pretty early on, but it was not consistent at all. Big E, my oldest who is 2 and a half, probably didn't start sleeping for that long until about this time or maybe even closer to a year. More recently, Little E has been waking up at 2 and then sometime between 6-7 am.

Now I know, I only have to wake up twice a night compared to some people out there who wake up 3, 4, even 5 times or more a night! So I could have it worse than what I do. But as we all know, sleep is important and I believe it's about quality, not quantity. I feel a lot better and more refreshed in the morning when I've only gotten up once, compared to 2 times or more. So I definitely can't wait till Little E truly sleeps through the night, every single night!

The first year is also rough because of me breastfeeding him. Now I'm not saying that I don't like it, because I do, I love it! I still find it incredible that the human body is capable of feeding another human being! It just blows my mind. I'm feeding my child and it's 100% free? But that also means that he's kind of attached to me. The only time I can really go out somewhere and not have to worry about leaving him bottles or taking my pump with me, is at night. This past weekend I actually did leave him during the day for a few hours both on Saturday and Sunday. It was probably only the 3rd or 4th time that he ever had a bottle and I was a bit worried on how he would do because the first few times didn't go so well. But surprisingly, he did very well! So now that eases my mind a little bit knowing that he will take a bottle so hopefully in the next 6 months, I can have a few more days like I did this past weekend where I get out of the house kid-free! As a mom, I deserve it! I'm with my kids 24/7 and I love them to death, but every now and then I need a break!

I also have to watch what I put into my body because of breastfeeding. Now I'm not saying that if I weren't nursing that I wouldn't care about what goes in my body, I'm saying that I wouldn't be as restricted. When I get sick, there isn't much I can take without it affecting my supply or having to pump and dump.

I'm not trying to rush the next 6 months, but I will be kind of happy when they are over. Our babies are only little for so long, so I'm definitely cherishing every single moment while they are little!! But I think after the first year, things get a little easier because they are a little more independent and not as needy. But stay tuned, I'm sure in about 11 years I'm going to be saying that the teenage years are the hardest!