On December 20th @10:23pm my baby girl officially turned 1 year old. To say we have been busy in the last week is an understatement! We had a big party for the birthday girl with family and friends on her birthday. The theme was penguins and the colour scheme was all shades of purple. It was a big hit and P was spoiled rotten. Unfortunately I have ZERO pictures of my own from the party as I was too busy entertaining guests and keeping the guest of honour happy….for those of you with an already turned one baby, you know what I mean.
As I reflect back on the first year of Ps life the best word I can come up with to describe it simply is: CHALLENGING. From IVF conception, to gestational diabetes, to 30 hours of labour, to months on end of colic to a general “spirited” (to put a positive spin on it) disposition, my first time as a mother has been really very challenging. I know they all say that being a parent is the hardest job in the world and I now know it really truly is. The challenges are continuing as we hit the First birthday milestone as well. P has been extra miserable the last few weeks. She is whiney and clingy and will not let me stand up let alone leave the room without her having a complete meltdown. We are currently in the midst of a brutal nap strike. She is refusing to nap at all (we have been on one nap for a few months now already) and will just stand and cry in her crib or sit and cry and eventually fall asleep sitting up and as you can imagine the sleeping doesn’t last long this way. The nap strike is going on two weeks now and it is driving me mental since she is clearly tired at nap time. Oh, she will nap ON ME if I sit in her rocking chair but we have never done that before. She has been napping in her crib for 6+ months now and I am not about to start a napping on me habit when I am going to back to work full time in 2 weeks.
She is also having some pretty bad separation anxiety lately and will not go to anyone else but her Daddy. She has had 3 half days at daycare as introduction days that have not gone well because of the separation anxiety. She basically cried all 3 days for almost the whole 3 hours. She starts full time in a week so hopefully after a week or so of going regularly all day she will adjust and end up loving it (fingers crossed). Christmas was also a challenge this year because Mr. Big Guy had to work night shift both xmas eve and xmas day so there was no one to pass P off to for a break for me but we made it through and had a pretty good time with my parents and sister and her family on christmas day. P enjoyed ripping the wrapping paper and pulling tissue out of bags and in typical one year old fashion wasn’t really interested in the actual present.
I am not sure if I have ever mentioned the Wonder Weeks in my blog but for those parents (especially first time parents) out their reading I am sure you know what I am talking about. If not, google it! There is a wonder week right around the first birthday and I am pretty sure this explains why P is extra miserable lately. That being said she is making leaps and bounds in her development right now as well. The biggest thing for her lately is that she is WALKING. Two days before her first birthday she took her first, second, third and fourth unassisted steps from Mommy to Daddy and ever since then she is walking further and further every day. She is understanding a lot more words as well although she has yet to really say a word with purpose. Mamamama and dadadada are part of her babbling repertoire but I don’t think she really says Mama or Dada on purpose yet. She is obsessed with taking things in and out of cupboards and drawers. At the end of the day my kitchen looks like a tornado hit it. There is always tupperware and pots and pans and pantry items strewn everywhere.
So we made it through year one. It wasn’t pretty but we made it and I am hoping as P becomes more of a little person and less of a baby things will get a bit easier. I love my little P more than I can express but wow am I glad the first year is over….on to year 2….it can’t be worse right???
Chronicles of the Conceptionally Challenged 