Next up from our Fresh Voice BiB category is Lorraine from Gin and Cornflakes – I LOVE her blog name! She has chosen to reflect on the first year of baby and being a mum
Make the most of them whilst they are babies. That’s what they say. And I loved Little Miss S during that first year as much as I do now – which is so much it frightens me. But I do have to admit, I am enjoying being a Mummy more now she is a bit older. And I do have to wonder if ‘they’ sometimes look back on that first year with rose tinted glasses.
From the moment Little Miss S arrived, the world was turned upside down. And being a Mummy was not something that I could do ‘standing on my head’. Wow it was/is hard. I worried about everything. Is she eating enough? Is she sleeping enough? Is she teething or is she poorly? What’s that rash? Gah! I haven’t sterilised the bottles. I haven’t got a clean muslin. I haven’t washed the babygrows. How can it be time for another feed…?
In between all that fretting, there isn’t an awful lot of time to relish the moment before having to think about the next thing to be done. I’m not saying I didn’t take stock of how lucky I was at all. Of course I got that rush of the most delicious happiness. Just probably not as often as I would have liked. Certainly not as often as ‘they’ suggest I ought. And I worried about that too… that I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I should be. And I do think new Mums feel the pressure to look like they are coping just fine, and to come across as if they are enjoying each and every moment. As we are told we should…
However, hindsight truly is an wonderful thing. Everyone can look back with a whistful sigh and a faraway gaze, fondly remembering the highlights – not the night baby had colic for the first time, not the undiagnosed and painful reflux, not the struggle with breastfeeding, not the time you had to care for poorly baby when you had flu yourself…
The thing is, when you are in that moment, actually living it, you don’t know that it is going to be ok. When your child is screaming to a level that you are certain must be registrable on some sort of scale, you just do not know that they are, more often than not, fine.
It is just teething. They are just hungry. It is just that you forgot to change her nappy as you were just too damn busy worrying about worrying about it! Babies can’t tell you what’s wrong. You (yes, you) have to know. And, more often that not, you just don’t. You haven’t a flipping clue! And that isn’t always enjoyable..
So, new Mummies, don’t listen to ‘them’. Do what you can to get through, and just enjoy it as much as you can. If that isn’t every moment, then don’t worry. The ironic thing is, if you don’t worry about enjoying it – you probably will all the more…
Lorraine from Gin & Cornflakes lives with her OH and beautiful 13 month old daughter in the South East. She blogs with honesty and humour about the ups and downs of being a Mum, working part time in the City, and those things we try to hold on to from our former lives when we become parents.
It’s not that she wants it all – just a bit of everything will do! She blogs at Gin and Cornflakes can be found tweeeting @gin_cornflakes and on Facebook
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On Being Mum… And Other Worries | Gin & Cornflakes
Sunday 12th of May 2013
[...] me to write a guest post for their blog. So here it is… This post first appeared on BritMums (link here) on 9 May. Voting closes this evening, and I’d be ever so grateful if you might take the time [...]