Before Noah was born, I was pretty insistent that while obviously our lives would be changing (for the better), it wouldn't change so drastically that we couldn't continue doing the same things we were already doing. And I would say 18 months later, that was pretty much true. If we wanted to go out to eat, having a hungry newborn didn't stop us. A few times, we would rely on friends or family to watch Noah so David and I could have a night out uninterrupted. But most of the times, we just brought Noah along. This was part of the beauty of breastfeeding and baby wearing. I could strap him to me and he would sleep most of the time and nothing would be any different. Or Noah would get hungry and I would just feed him quietly while I ate my own dinner (did you know that it would take 2 hands to feed a baby a bottle, yet I could breastfeed with only one, sometimes no hands???).
As Noah got older, this didn't change. We took Noah out to friends houses or errands or restaurants often and I'm pretty sure this is why he is such a good and flexible kid. He has no problems napping on the go or napping in 15 min increments here or there and having no reliable times for food or nap. Of course, when Noah is hungry, yes we do need to stop and eat, but it's not like we have to go pick up a special meal just for him.
Now that we are pregnant with #2, we are thinking about these same decisions all over again and just like with Noah, I feel why do things have to change. In fact, I enjoy having the opportunity to share these experiences with Noah. I'm blessed to know that we make enough money to take Noah to Chicago in a few weeks and to afford to take him to the Zoo and out to eat. Noah's done more in his 18 months than I've probably done in the first 18 years. No offense to my parents, they did a great job, but I'm really fortunate to be able to give Noah all these experiences already.
In my final comments, I just don't get others who when we see them out, they are yelling at their kids and seem so stressed out. I realize that we may all have a "moment" but if it's that bad, why did you decide to have children. I can honestly say I never feel that way around Noah. Sure, I get frustrated sometimes, but I never take it out on my poor innocent toddler who doesn't know better. I also don't understand the parents who on the other side don't take their kids out at all with the excuse that they just can't. I honestly think sometimes it's harder to entertain Noah at home than when we go out and do something. Yeah it's a bit more work to get everything together and maybe you have to walk and stuff but isn't it worth it to see the happiness on your child's face. So while I would say things haven't changed too much since Noah, the biggest thing is the reason and right now it's all for our kids, both Noah and our future kids. Both David and I would do anything for them. If that means we have to get up off our lazy butts and take them out, then I would do it with a smile, just for my kids. End Rant.
No comments:
Post a Comment