Saturday, January 05, 2013

Celebrating the Mother

 This seemed a good topic for this week.

On the one hand, I just had my 30th birthday, and felt very celebrated by my family and friends this week.  Free babysitting, new bedding, sweet treats, a surprise lunch, a Sucre cake, a date night out, time to myself, nice messages, and lots of hugs (Jack) and smiles (Cora) from my kids = a very nice day.

On the other hand, I'm going to call myself out.  I'm at a unique place as Cora has a few weeks of solids under her belt, but hasn't yet had any decrease in her milk feedings.  This means I can claim nearly full responsibility for this:



It would be easy to see only a beautiful baby and to overlook the pure accomplishment that this beautiful specimen is!  But I was thinking recently, that I GREW her!  Jacob gets credit for half of her DNA, but I took her from mere cells to 20+ pounds of preciousness.  For 38 weeks "inside" and, now, for nearly 7 months "outside" through my made-to-order 100% cream shakes!

I can tell you that it's a rare day when a mother gets thanked by her children for the milk, love, nourishment, and care that is poured out for them daily.  (Although Jack does have a very sweet habit lately of saying thank you quite frequently!)  So I'm going to pat myself on the back for the absolute MIRACLE that are pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding.  Amidst the moments of pure joy that they offer, they can take a physical toll.  They are each HARD at times.  But, I doubt I'll ever accomplish anything as beautiful, special, or amazing as this :)


Side note: statistically, if Cora encountered 99 other babies her age, she'd be the biggest!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! You should pat yourself on the back! Pregnancy and birth are hard work but breastfeeding is so much more. It is a selfless gift you have chosen to give Cora. You should be so proud. She is beautiful :)