Three weeks ago, even with my belly so full of baby, the contents of 24 hours looked very, very different. I’m amazed when I think about it; what I could fit into one day not even a month ago is astounding compared to now. So why is it that the substance of my days then is a blip on my radar screen? I’m sure I could summon it all back up if I tried hard enough, or if I dug out the planner that has since been buried under baby item after baby item, but why?

Everything then felt like it was building up to Henry’s birth–and in a lot of ways, it was. Birthing classes, nursery planning, last free-to-have-coffee-or-lunch-at-my-leisure dates, Target and Lowe’s and Menards runs for everything in preparation. Our lives for a while revolved around baby, but mixed in, there were heaps of other things, too. Now, life is baby Henry and everything he needs, at every turn. I don’t do a thing without considering him; I don’t leave a room without checking on him every few minutes. I eat, sleep and breathe his schedule, and it has become my own. In this moment, three weeks ago seems like years ago. All aspects of life have become new, however foreign. And I’m not grumbling about it in the least.

I just can’t help but marvel at how so small a person can take a life…a whole household, and change everything about it overnight. (Even as I type this, Henry makes his mark. I’m learning to blog one-handed:)

I’ve been thinking about this today because it’s been a long week, and Henry and I have spent all of it together. I’ve truly never done anything more challenging, nor more rewarding, than being a mom around the clock. I know that the hard parts now will soon get easier, and that they’ll then be replaced with new hard parts. And in the same way that the hard parts of life from three weeks ago are kind of fuzzy now, I know that all of these firsts–good and bad, will pass by as well. Unlike the everyday routine before though, I pray I won’t forget the routine moments of these past few weeks. The rocking and cuddling and swaddling and comforting are the very best day job I’ve ever had.

loving the contents,

mm