For me, the first 6 months of sweet Annabelle's life were quite isolating. I was breast feeding and pumping and since babies eat every 3 hours at the beginning, I was always "tethered" to my child. By the time I would feed her and change her, I would have little time to do much else before the whole cycle would begin again. We were pretty much home-bound, like house cats, watching the world pass by our windows.
If we were forced to run an errand, I would have to lug around the car seat with her inside, because until she started sitting up on her own at 6 1/2 months, it was impossible to put her in the front part of a shopping cart or in a high chair at a restaurant. Isolation was gripping me. Sure, I took this time to absorb everything about my darling child. We snuggled, we read books, we sang songs, we played, we learned to roll over and then learned to crawl. I looked into her eyes and told her that I loved her a hundred times every day. But still, I needed to return to civilization STAT and I mean for longer than an aerobics class at the YMCA.
And then one day, after she had mastered high chair sitting, we were sharing a banana. A mashed up piece for baby, a normal piece for mom, and back and forth, all the way to the nub at the end. We were just two girls, enjoying a snack together. She was babbling, I was talking about what I was going to cook for dinner, when I realized that we had turned a corner. She was becoming a companion, not just a lump of baby.
Around this time, a dear friend had told me that AnnaB and I were about to embark on some real adventures together. We were about to start having fun. Since then, we are no longer stranded on our island, we run errands with the best of 'em. We've vacationed several times, we go to dinner on Friday nights, we take swim lessons and we do activities at the library. We are two gals out on the town!
I look back at AnnaB's first year and it's bittersweet. She's no longer a baby and while I have appreciation for that time of her life, I'm thrilled to be tackling new experiences together. Her first birthday party was a success, with family and friends and cake, lots of cake! She loved it all. And I'm loving it all too.
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| The progression of a "cake smash".... cute birthday outfit on... |
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| Cute outfit off, first bite of cake... |
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| Liking the cake... |
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| On the floor, diaper only. Loving the cake and laughing! |
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| Birthday girl in the middle and her party guests, Harrison & Madelyn. |
