My teeny tiny newborn will be 10 months old in a couple of days. 10 months! That's double digits. I can’t quite believe it. This year has flown by in a haze of sleepless nights, endless feeds and countless nappy changes. It’s been the most challenging 10 months that I’ve encountered in my years on Earth but I wouldn’t change them. It may have been hard but it’s been amazing to give birth to my own little baby and nurture her into the slightly bigger bundle of joy she is today (most of the time). Life is completely different now to what it was this time last year.
10 ways my life has changed since having a baby
- Lie in’s are a thing of the past. Well, that’s not entirely true - it’s just that the definition of a lie in has changed. Sleeping past 7am is considered a lie in now. Sleeping past 8 has happened but this is an incredibly rare treat. I can probably count on one hand how many times this has happened since January. Oh, what I’d give to sleep until I wake up naturally.
- A late night is now classed as 9pm. I’m not kidding. I’m probably ready for bed around 7 these days.
- I’m rarely seen in clean clothes.That doesn’t mean I don’t wash my clothes properly. It’s just that nine times out of ten I have some sort of stain on my clothes when leaving the house. Sometimes I know they’re there and sometimes I don’t but I can be sure they were caused by Molly in some way. I’ve given up caring now. Changing clothes everytime I get something spilled on them just results in masses more laundry that I don’t have time to do.
- Everything I do revolves around a nap schedule and sadly it’s not my own!
- I’ve become a master planner. Everything has to be planned right down to the tiniest detail. But I’ve also had to learn to let things go. When a baby is involved plans can go out the window faster than my clothes something spilled on them.
- I can never just ‘nip’ anywhere. Leaving the house is a big job and can take at least half an hour. I also cannot go anywhere without at least one big backpack full of stuff that I will probably not need but may need so should always have with my ‘just in case’.
- I’ve learned to do everything one handed with a baby balanced on my hip. It’s a great skill to have, though I’m not sure how transferable it is.
- I have a lot more patience.
- I am generally more confident. I have never been a very confident person and I’m still not but now I have a baby I’m suddenly forced into a lot of situations that I usually would shy away from which is definitely making a more confident person.
- Life is amazing. It’s so much better than it was before I had a baby. I feel joy in the little things every day. I get to spend my life with my tiny little mini me and for me it’s the best way to spend my life.
