For the first time ever, I’m bringing Kevin on the blog to give you his firsthand account of our topic. Today, we’re both going to share our very real, honest and uncensored feelings about our first two months as parents. Additionally, I’ll be discussing some programming adjustments towards the end. Let’s dive in!
Ashley’s First Two Months as a Mom
At the risk of sounding super cheesy, it’s been the most magical experience of my life. This little girl can blow out her diaper, spit up and scream at me but the second she stops and gives me one of her signature gummy smiles, everything else disappears. She’s going to be one tough cookie to say no to when she’s older!
Alexis has been a really good baby, she rarely fusses, and eats and sleeps so well. She’s a very happy little girl and we’re just over the moon with every little thing she does.
But we’re not talking about Alexis today, so let’s shift gears.
Parenting is one of the hardest things you’ll do, should you choose that route. I highly recommend it, but only if you truly want this lifelong commitment. The work is worth it, I can promise you that.
Every day of these first two months has been different, and that’s been a huge adjustment for me. I’m a creature of routine from Monday through Friday and babies just do NOT care. Some mornings I wake up peacefully before her and get ready for the day. Then the next morning I might wake up from a deep sleep to a crying baby who just blasted her diaper all over and I don’t wash my face until lunchtime.
You have to give yourself a little grace and have patience. More on how I’m practicing this in my programming updates at the end of the article.
Ashley’s Biggest Challenge
It’s been hard not having as much time to dedicate to work, because I’ve had a job every day of my life since I was 16 years old. Most of the time I’ve had more than one job at once, too. In college, there was a time I had three jobs in addition to my full-time course load and sorority leadership commitments. After graduation, I kept working my retail job at Teavana on weekends after starting my first full-time corporate job because it was good money and I loved the environment. I thrive when I’m busy and I come from a long line of hardworking family; it’s in my DNA.
Again, babies do not care. They have needs, they let you know about them and they typically need attention pretty quick. I knew all this going into parenthood but there’s no way to truly know what you’re in for until you’re in it. Thankfully, Alexis is truly a relatively low maintenance baby. She’s happy, loves to play in her activity gyms and sleeps well, so that gives me time to squeeze work in during the day. However, she needs changes, to be fed and if there’s any throw ups or blow outs those take time to clean up and change her, and then they usually require more feeding because she’s emptier now.
The solution has been to scale back and really evaluate what is adding value. Whatever isn’t adding value is getting the axe. I’ve also accepted that I won’t be looking at the picture perfect 9-5 workday anymore. Sometimes I’ll need to get things done after she’s asleep (it’s literally 9:20pm as I’m typing this) and that’s just the reality. You’re either flexible or you have to make sacrifices. Combining that mindset with dad pitching in after work has helped me find my footing as a self-employed small business owner and a mom.
Kevin’s First Two Months as a Dad
My first two month of being a dad have honestly been the happiest time of my life so far. I had no idea what to expect at first. Sure, I got some advice here and there but didn’t actually know what it’d be like until Alexis was born. Obviously, a lot of work goes into being a new parent, but when she looks at me with those big eyes, falls asleep on my chest or makes her signature coos it’s all completely worth it.
When the nurse handed her to me for the first time 45 minutes after she was born, I was terrified. Eventually that went away and I was comfortable holding her. That’s really how many aspects of parenthood have been for me so far: scary at first but eventually I get the hang of it. During her first few nights at home I’d look into the bassinet every few minutes to make sure she was okay. Eventually, I realized she’s perfectly safe in there and now she’s sleeping 6-7 hour stretches at night.
Another one of my favorite aspects of parenthood is spending quality family time at the end of a long day. Even if we’re all just hanging out on the couch, I look forward to that all day long. Family walks are a lot of fun too, Alexis typically sleeps the whole time and Bickell gets to burn off some energy so everyone loves it.
Kevin’s Biggest Challenge
Of course, there’s some challenges that come with the territory. My biggest challenge so far is with her dream feeds after bath time. We get Alexis nice and cleaned up, jammied and swaddled up tight and most nights post-bath she spits up quite a bit. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure that out, maybe wait on her feed a bit after bath time. But honestly that’s a small thing, I couldn’t be more thrilled that Alexis is a happy, healthy baby and that mom had a pretty straightforward delivery.
I want to extend a big shout out to Kev for taking the time to share his perspective this week. To be honest, I threw this assignment at him last minute, but I knew it’d not only be a good value add to the article, but a good way for him to reflect on these very special first two months. Hopefully you enjoyed hearing his side of the story! Let me know what you thought in the comments!
The Future of The Blog
Currently, I have new posts every Wednesday and I love that consistency for both myself and my readers. However, with a new baby, we’re still adjusting over here. Work has been harder to squeeze in, at least for now until we’re more deeply entrenched in our routines. That being said, I’m going to try and have posts live every Wednesday, but now and again I may be skipping a week (like last week, for anyone who noticed).
There won’t be a rhyme or reason for what weeks are skipped except simply that Alexis needed mom more and I wasn’t able to get the content ready in time. Rather than trying to squeeze out content for content’s sake, I’d rather skip a week and have quality over quantity to share because I respect your time, and mine!
Ideally, I won’t be skipping many weeks at all, but if I do, just know there is probably a sweet little girl who needed me more that week.
Preview of This Summer’s Content
As a treat, because I absolutely adore you guys and appreciate you being here, I want to share a bit about what is coming this season.
Projects you’ll see covered this summer feature:
- Kitchen organization
- Warm weather projects for every skill level
- Kitchen linens makeover
- Installing a hard top gazebo
- My first Amazon Live (will be hosted on Amazon, follow me in-app here)
Also, now that I’m off the crazy gestational diabetes train, I have a lot more food and recipe content coming. Be sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok as were already in full swing over there!
Thank you for being here. Whether you’re a newer reader, or have been around since foodwinediy.com, I appreciate everyone who reads the blog. By doing so you’re supporting a brand new mama working hard doing what she loves, helping others through her writing and creativity.
xoxo,
Ashley
More Family and Pregnancy
- Our Pink and White Minimalist Nursery
- Meet Our Rainbow, Alexis Nicole Burk
- What I Actually Used in My Hospital Bag
- Best Baby Registry Essentials
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