Oh hey there! Guess what? This is my 100th post! And 100 seems like a milestone. Like a cause for celebration. I see some cheap wine and a box of stale graham crackers in my future.
100 posts. I started this blog when I was pregnant and kind of freaking out. Then I continued the blog as a new mom who was really freaking out. Now my baby is, like, old, and I’m still freaking out.
Which got me wondering: How long can I play the “New Mom” card?
Then I decided: Forever. Or at least until Elisabeth goes to college and moves out of the house. Which is basically forever.
So yeah, Elisabeth is a year-and-a-half now, hardly “new”. But do I know what I’m doing anymore now then I did a year-and-a-half ago? Um, no. I’m definitely still as clueless as I was when Elisabeth was born. Because here’s the thing: Babies change. Fast.
In my last post I lamented how my sweet little girl is now a scary toddler. That’s new. Someday she’ll turn into a scary middle-schooler. That will be new. (And cause for considering boarding school?) Not to mention all those developmental phases between two and twelve or twelve and eighteen that will all be new. Heck, if today’s college graduates are any indication, Elisabeth could move out, graduate college and move right back in with us! That will be new! (And scarier than anything that came before.)
Even if I have a second child, everything will be new again. I’m just going to wager that a second baby will be completely different than the first, just to make all the stuff I think I know (about sleep, routines, feedings, etc.) completely irrelevant. And so child-raising – even the second time around – will feel new. (Especially when dealing with a deviant older child!)
Point is, I don’t think the “newness” of being a parent ever goes away. Which is sort of terrifying, right? I think I’ll go grab that wine now…
Oh, thanks for sticking with me on this blogging journey! Hope you’ll stick around for 100 more!
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