There are less than 30 days left until my baby girl celebrates being on this planet for a whole calendar year (not including her time in utero, of course). Both Mommy B and I are in awe of how quickly the last year has gone. We just can't believe that (almost) a whole year has flown by so quickly! We sure didn't sleep through it, that's for sure. In fact, I commented to Mommy B the just other day that I think we've been awake for more hours in the past year than any other year in my life... and yet it feels like it has gone by so much faster than any other year.
While Mommy B is busy planning Alli's first birthday bash, I have to admit that I've found myself reflecting over how our lives have changed and the things we've learned over the past year. There's obviously too many things to list here, but the overall theme is the same: The highs are so high, and the lows are so low.
Perfect example: Alli has been quite the fuss-butt over the last four or five days. Lots of coughing during the night (which wakes her up, along with Mommy B and I), clear snot pouring out her nose (which is what caused the coughing), and overall irritability. Sound familiar? Yeah, methinks there's more teeth on the way. Which wouldn't surprise me, given that she already has 8 teeth all the way in.
Needless to say, Mommy B and I's patience has been tried and pushed to the absolute limit. Alli simply would not take a nap yesterday, even after alternating Tylenol and Advil to ease the pain in her mouth. No matter what Mommy B did with her, she just seemed all-around miserable. I actually packed things up and "worked from home" the rest of the afternoon to help out. The only thing that worked was to take her outside and let her walk around the cul-de-sac in her "car". All in all, it was a very rough day on both of us... and we weren't looking forward to sending her to daycare today. We both laid in bed that night, asking each other why anyone would want to do this again...
By the next morning, we knew why. Alli basically slept all night (aside from just a few seconds of coughing), and woke up this morning happy as a clam. She didn't cough at all when she woke up (which was how we knew she was awake for the past five days), didn't have a single drop of snot coming out of her nose, and seemed back to normal during our little bit of play time before I take her to daycare.
I can't tell you how relieved I was to see my happy baby girl again. Not only is she way cuter when she's happy, but it makes everyone's lives much easier. I didn't have to worry about her being a grumpo to her teachers at daycare, and hopefully this meant we were over the hump. We'll see if any teeth break through in the next couple days...
This is just one example of the roller coaster of emotions that having a child brings upon parents. It tests your strength, stamina, morals, convictions, love, dedication... and most of all, patience. Not just your patience with your child, but with everyone and everything else in your life too. There was a point yesterday I thought Mommy B was going to take Scarlett back to the shelter if she didn't get out of her face pronto.
Luckily our wolfpack is still intact, but it's been challenges like this one that have really shaped us as parents over the past year. The countdown is on until Alli's first birthday, but the clock doesn't stop there... we've still got a long way to go.
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