Reminder of how fast time goes – savour your newborn

You’re probably deep in the trenches of parenting right now. The night waking, the developmental leaps, the tears (yours and your baby’s), the bottomless laundry pile, the messy house, and the never ending feeds and nappy changes.

Life is busy with a newborn baby. People remind you that ‘the days are long, but the years are short’, but it’s almost impossible to imagine even the end of the baby weeks and months when you’re in survival mode.

The first smile, the first laugh, the first tooth, the first time they sit up, the first bite of solids, and the first time they reach their arms up to you for a cuddle. There are so many beautiful, heart-melting moments you’ll be experiencing in those first few months.

But those magical moments fly by, and before you know it there’ll be another exciting ‘first’. Some you’ll forget even though you promise yourself with every fibre of your being that you’ll always remember it, but it happens. Before you know it they’ll be taking their first steps, saying their first words, and having their first toddler tantrum. It’s all wonderful, exhausting, and at times relentless.

You crave some time to yourself, a tidy home, and some peace and quiet. You long for a day when you don’t have to change nappies, for your baby to just finally talk so they can tell you what’s wrong instead of crying. You feel guilty but sometimes you wish they would just grow up…surely it gets easier?

But you can’t even get your head around the idea that your gorgeous little one who is completely dependent on you will one day be bigger and will rely on you less and less. That one day they’ll be too big to fit in your arms, and that look of pure adoration they have when they see you will eventually fade.

One day the house won’t be scattered with toys, the cot and pram will be history, the bottles and dummies long gone, and you will have a life of your own again. The house won’t be filled with quite so much noise, chaos, and laughter. That baby of yours will be a teenager, and you might be lucky to get a word out of them some days, let alone a hug.

Those newborn hours quickly turn to weeks, the weeks to months, and believe it or not right now, the months turn to years. One day that baby of yours will be an adult, and you’ll have to let go. You’ll wonder how time passed so quickly.

You’ll ask yourself if you missed anything, did you read to them enough, did you hug them enough, did you tell them you love them enough, did you play with them enough…you’ll have so many questions. Even though you know in your heart that you did the best you could, there is one thing that becomes clear…

There’s never enough time. But you won’t feel like that right now with your newborn, so this is your reminder to not rush it all. The parts you find exhausting, challenging, and frustrating will strangely become the things you miss.

While you’re just trying to get through each and every day, try to soak it all in. Because these days come to an end.

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