13 months

really? it's been thirteen months since my sweet little boy graced us with his presence? wow! the time has just flown by! it seems like only a couple of weeks ago that we were coming home from the hospital. that first night home was awful - all three of us crying on the floor of the nursery after a disastrous attempt at changing his little diaper. watch out for the umbilical cord, be careful of the circumcision, don't forget the Vaseline and alcohol pad... is this diaper even on right? we couldn't stop apologizing to that poor little guy and kept questioning our decision to circumcise, but look at us now - we've made it to 13 months, and JA still thinks we're pretty cool :) the last thirteen months have been filled with so much joy, many laughs, kisses, and hugs, well, and some tears and sleepless nights which were well worth it. I'm not sure if I slept for more than 2 hours at a time for the first 3 or 4 months. it always reminds me of a bit that jim gaffigan does about new moms who breastfeed. he says you should never say you're tired in front of a new mom who breastfeeds because she'll reply that she only slept for 1 minute the night before AND she was breastfeeding during that minute :) how true!! if only my husband had remembered that the night he told me that HE (the one who got to sleep for hours at a time) was tired when I asked him to go change the baby. the look on my face convinced him that he really wasn't too tired to change the baby. but I'm not writing this to complain about my husband - he's a good guy who works very hard to provide for us, and I am so thankful for that.
we are still trying to figure out what we're doing, and praying that we don't do anything that will send him to therapy, but parenting is one of those learn-on-the-job occupations where you just try your best and then see what happens. maybe it will work, maybe it will blow up in your face - it's really just a toss-up. I read every book, magazine article, and website that I could find that had to do with parenting and infant care/milestones during my pregnancy and the first several months of JA's life. what did I learn? many things can go wrong, babies develop at their own rate, and baby poop is a mystery. I tried doing everything by the book, and all it did was make me very tired and anxious. now, at 13 months, I'm not consulting the books like a crazy information junkie looking for their next hit. and you know what? JA is okay. he's doing his own thing and is very happy about it. maybe, FINALLY, after 13 months mommy can stop worrying so much!
hahaha, right... at least I've stopped calling my mom about his poop :)