I'm excited to be penning my first column on parenting. I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences, thoughts, and humble advice about this journey. I welcome feedback from you, especially other caregivers who might have a great tip on how to make life easier!
I'm learning new things just about every day. Friends without children often ask me what life with a baby is like. Friends with children often want to compare my story to theirs. I decided it might be easier to put some thoughts to words, and invite you read about it in a monthly column.
First up, some general thoughts on motherhood: I love being a mother. I love it way more than I expected. My little girl is the light of my life. I was told this would happen, but I could not anticipate the strong pull of my emotions. It's probably like describing color to a blind person. How do you do that? I wasn't a kid person. Before Olivia, I would not cross a room to look at a baby. I never felt strong maternal urges prior to having my own child.
The closest comparison was my dogs. Eleven years ago I got my first dog, a Labrador, which was followed years later by a second Lab. An adopted stray cat rounds out the menagerie in my furry household. I'm very loving towards animals. When I used to try and envision the love and the responsibility caring for a baby entails, the best substitute I could come up with was my affection for - and routine with - the dogs.
My "work husband," who is my co-anchor Paul Drewes, would laugh and tell me it was a feeble parallel. At the time, he had one son, Noa, who was born in 2004, so he had three years on me in the parenting section. I knew the dog scenario was only a small fraction of the real deal, but I admitted, I didn't have anything closer. He spent a lot of work nights dispensing baby primers over our desk cubicle partition. By virtue of our work schedules, which place us together for 16 hours a week, he became my primary parenting mentor.
It was overwhelming. Diapers, feedings, schedules; the whole lot of it freaked me out. I would listen to him, but I could only take in so much before I had to tell him to stop. If you've been there, you know what I mean.
Take, for example, feedings. He would describe to me how the baby needs to be fed every three hours in the first eight weeks of life (that right there is more than enough numbers in one sentence for me. I'm a journalist because I hate math), but how that changes every couple months, how it may play out overnight, and then how to work in solid food. It can get complicated. Now when I talk to first-time expectant parents, I see the same glazed look in their eyes if I give too much detail.
But now I'm here, and I'm fine. I'm into the swing of this mommy business, and it's not so bad once you're actually doing it. It's a good thing my husband and I chose to have a child. We were on a fence because it sounded like a major life change that we weren't sure we wanted, but I'm glad we took the leap of faith and listened to our friends who said having children is wonderful and beautiful. It's a chapter in my life that I am so glad to be writing.
