I have to make a confession to all of you. My daughter doesn’t have a baby book. Yes, she was my first. And, yes, I love her very much.
I have 2 completely empty baby books that I received from my baby shower. Before she was born, I had the best of intentions to complete both of them and to document every little milestone. I lovingly put them in her closet when we were putting the finishing touches on her nursery. Unfortunately, that is where they stayed and where they are today, as she is turning 2. I opened them up once, put a few words in, and never touched them again. I thought about them from time to time when I had a spare moment and thought, “I should really write in those”…but I never did. The good thing is that her childhood so far has been thoroughly documented by photos {my summer mission is to print my favorites and create a photo book}.
So, now you’re probably wondering why I never completed her baby books? I’ve thought about that a lot and what I would tell my daughter when she asked to see her baby book. These might be some of the things that I tell her:
1. I couldn’t wait to meet you and I was so ready to become a mother. However, I’ve realized that nobody can be fully prepared to become a mother. No matter how many times people tell you that it will be life changing, you won’t fully understand it until you are actually immersed into it. The moment you were born, I was completely head over heels for you, and my life became about taking care of you and making sure that you were happy. I was consumed by a completely new world of diapers, breastfeeding, sleep schedules, and swaddling. When I wasn’t thinking about one of those, I was soaking up the times that you fell asleep on me. I would kiss the top of your head, breathe in your newborn smell, and think about how blessed I was to have been given the most perfect little girl.
2. You grew so much from day to day that there would have been no way to capture that in a baby book. I would have been writing for hours everyday and have missed all of the little things you did everyday to make me proud. One day, you couldn’t sit up on your own and, then all of a sudden, you just did it. You were so determined. You were always trying to grow up and I was constantly amazed by you.
3. Your personality was so big from the very moment that you were born. You are caring, funny, loving and strong willed {like your mama}. Even writing this, those words don’t do your personality justice. Your personality shines through in pictures, which is why I was always snapping photos of you, to freeze moments in time so that you could see how happy you always were.
4. You were a terrible sleeper until you were 6 months old {translation: we were all zombies until then} and you realized that sleep is amazing. Your first 6 months consisted of a lot of snuggles, sleeping on mommy and daddy, and parties at midnight {and 2am, 4am, you get the idea}.
5. Your first Christmas was one to remember. You had a double ear infection, so we traded in our New Year’s plans for a lot of snuggles. You also started sitting up on your own right after Christmas and we were so proud of you. No matter how much I had looked forward to that day, it was the first of many milestones that made me realize that time moves so fast.
6. Shortly after you sat up on your own, you started crawling. I wish you could have heard how loud we were cheering for you and how big the smiles on our face were. You started walking shortly before your 1st birthday. You were so excited when you finally figured it out.
7. From 2 months until 2 years, you were teething. Those little guys were really stubborn and took their sweet time to come in. You really hated teething. The only thing that seemed to make it better for you was your pacifier (loving called by you as your “ba”) and frozen pancakes.
8. Your first year at daycare, you were sick a lot, which meant more snuggles and sleeping on mommy and daddy. You weren’t sick as much the next year, which was great, but I missed the extra snuggles {we made up some of that time on snow days}.
9. Some of your favorite things from the first 2 years of your life were: fruit {your favorite changed by the day}, breakfast food, books, animals {especially your doggie, lovingly called by you as Poopie}, swings and slides, laughing, Minions, art, and bubbles.
10. When I found out that you were a girl, I cried during the ultrasound and made them check a few hundred times before I left. I had always dreamed of having a little girl and I couldn’t believe that my dreams were really coming true. Having you as my daughter is so much more than I could have ever imagined in that moment. You have truly made my life complete. You don’t have a baby book because I was so busy loving you and trying to soak in every part of you.
Any other mamas out there that can relate? I’d love to know other ideas and ways to document my little one’s days. Please comment below!
