My Name Is...
AIlish's First Movie -- Wonder Woman!
I can’t help but have the Eminem song “My Name Is” on loop in my head every time I have to introduce myself to someone. Does that happen to anyone else? Anyone? It seems that in the last 8 months, I’ve been introducing myself a lot! Eight months ago I had my first kiddo and joined every Mommy & Me group under the sun. Every group starts the same, going around the room introducing ourselves and the awesome little creatures we have on our laps… or boob, more like it. “Hi. My Name Is… What? My name is… Who? My name is… I’m Saralyn and this is Ailish.”
These groups were a complete saving grace, btw. This whole motherhood journey is totally nuts and you NEED that camaraderie. I'm also bananas lucky to have super supportive friends and family who tried to help prepare me for the onset of motherhood... but until you’re swimming with the alligators, YOU. Just. Don’t. Know.
So here's a little bit about what I've learned.
That first month is a sh*t-show. Straight up. It's a wreck. Besides figuring out the hellish torture of breastfeeding (or bottle feeding, because it's ALL hard) and dealing with war tactic sleep deprivation; learning to understand the terminology and time-table in which this new world operates on was especially hard for me. (I think I'll blame "baby brain" for that!)
Feeding every two hours literally means EVERY two hours. From the START of the feeding to the START of the next feeding is ONLY TWO FREAKING HOURS. What the good hell is that about? And when that adorable ravenous sleepy beast is hooked up to the milk machine (YOU!) for 45 minutes (and half of THAT time you’re trying to keep them awake to eat, but they just keep falling back to sleep) and then you spend 30 minutes trying to actually put them to sleep in a crib or swing or dog bed, anything other than in your stiff exhausted arms so you can just go to the stupid bathroom and maybe stuff your pie hole with an entire pie because YOU ARE STARVING! ALWAYS starving! That was a tad tough to adjust to. But you do.
Side Note: I highly recommend watching nothing but comedies during this time. Finding a way to laugh was key for me. 'New Girl' and 'Grace & Frankie' reminded me what laughter still existed.
With the complete loss of control over my time, I desperately needed SOMETHING. Something simple. Something creative. Something that I could do to feel like I was doing… well, something. My friend Sharon had her daughter Ella two months before Ailish made her appearance, and was taking these really amazing, incredibly fun pictures of her little munchkin that I just adored.
Here is one of the SUPER kick-ass pictures that Sharon created! She completely captured the essence of our wee ones, don't ya think? You should check out her other pictures. It’s next level Mom-ing right here!
Sharon's daughter, Ella is on the left and Ailish is on the right.
Sharon encouraged me to try it. “Just find stuff around the house. You can do that!” she said.
So I did.
Ailish's debut
That was that. Every week I took a new picture (like mom’s do in this digital age) and every week it became a little bit more thought out.
As we hit 8-months-old, it’s getting harder for the Little Monkey to keep her modeling act together so here we are. I thought I’d shift over to blogging about our shenanigans instead. Since I have ABSOLUTE NO TRAINING with kids other than being the “fun aunt” up until February 2, 2017, this will just be another creative outlet for me to entertain myself and hopefully you as well. No professional or expert advice here. Just a new mom winging it with her munchkin-cakes daughter and two fluff-ball pups named Gabe and Moxie. The three of them are giving me a run for my money!
