Lessons from a Leaf Blower

Motherhood has been everything yet nothing of what I expected it would be. I thought I'd come home from the hospital, put my girl in her bassinet and she'd sleep. Wrong. She hates it with a burning passion. I thought bath time would be hell on earth. Wrong. Homegirl loves the spa! I thought I'd be tired out of my mind and bored at home all day with a crying baby. Wrong. I get adequate sleep and days go so quickly with my sweet girl.

I should have known. I'm a planner and organizer and I thrive on knowing everything before it happens (so naturally my life is never stress free). Before Cana was born I spent months researching the best ways to do everything for baby. Sleep, feed, play, etc. I planned on doing things in certain ways, while also trusting that my baby would help me know what she needed.

I've succeeded in some sense. The baby telling me what she needs part. At this point, everything I planned on doing seems to have gone out the window, because I just don't have "that" baby. You know, the Pinterest perfect baby that loves to be swaddled and sleeps/eats/plays on the perfect Babywise schedule. Not my kid. She will hold her breath in a silent cry until her entire body is as red as a cherry if you restrict her from placing those precious hands near her face. And she will eat for forty minutes on each side with mini naps in between. Why? Because she can. She has mama wrapped around her fingers. And disagree if you will, but she needs that right now.

My two and a half week old baby girl is in one of the most stressful times of her life and by golly, I trust her when she tells me she needs an extra long nap or a marathon dinner. She knows. Far better than I do. She proves it to me on the daily.

Case in point: I spent over an hour trying to get her to take her mid morning nap today. I turned off the lights, rocked her, even paused my millionth episode of Parenthood to keep it quiet! She faught me like a pro. Then come the leaf blowers right outside our window. I wanted to murder them, for how would my child sleep through such crazy noise?! Ha... She fell right asleep.

Looks like we are investing in a leaf blower and less time on Pinterest.
For now.