We just returned from an epic week in New York (celebrating THIS amazing film, and THIS amazing bride to be), and having not been there since pre-baby days, it was an amazing barometer to see how life has changed. (Mainly that we spend most of our times in parks now, and that we can still rock staying out to the wee hours of the night, but our baby doesn’t give a shit about our hangover.)
I always knew motherhood would change me. I expected to start rocking some bad ass mom jeans, get a mom haircut (this hasn’t happened yet but I am scheming it), and even anticipated (although of course could never fully prepare for) the “Parentdigm Shift“. But there are 3 ways I changed that really took my be surprise:
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Stillness – As a classic over-worked, hyper-active Millenial, before motherhood I was always on the go. For the entire year before my baby was born, I worked 3 jobs. I worked every moment of my spare time. Starting non-profits, being on boards of things, blogging. There was rarely a moment I wasn’t doing something or looking at my phone. But over the last year I have become very at peace with STILLNESS. Often I would be holding my baby as she sleeps, with no phone near by, no tv on, no podcast playing, and in order to not disturb her, I’d just have to sit there. I’d sit there for 2 hours just so she could sleep! Of course boredom does creep in, all the time, but I really have found I’ve accepted and adjusted to stillness in a way I never imagined.
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No more laziness – I know this may seem contradictory to point #1, but although pre-motherhood I worked a ton, on the flip side, I was also notorious for being LAZY (seriously ask any member of my family). I never wanted to clean. Or take out the trash. Or do the laundry. Or clean out my closet. I was even lazy about showering! (All I ever wanted to do was watch TV). But now when I have a spare moment (and far out of the newborn phase and getting more sleep), I get excited to do everything! If I have 15 minutes I can literally put on a stew, shower, do laundry, take out the recycling and clean up toys. It’s like I’ve transitioned from a sloth to sonic the hedgehog. (also sidenote: My husband does do a ton. I am by no means doing this all alone).
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No more indecisiveness – I used to be really easy going. Like someone would ask me what I wanted for dinner, and I would genuinely say, “whatever, I don’t care”. NOW, when Chris asks me what I would like, I might say I am cool with anything, but then it comes out that I think something very specific would be best. And this is perhaps the most unexpected and significant change I’ve experienced. The thing is, with motherhood, you end up having to make a MILLION decisions a day. Seriously, at the beginning, it’s almost debilitating how many decisions you have to make. But then somewhere around month 6, it shifted from being overwhelming, to me just becoming a confident, opinionated person who can now articulate what she wants and what she thinks is best in a situation.
Anyone else feel these things? Or feel they changed in any unexpected ways? I’d love to know!
And here are just a whole slew of ridiculously cute photos of our snot-bubbled-mullet-haired-adorable-almost-one-year old taking on the big city:
