Annnnnnd, I'm back.
This was all done according to plan, I assure you. Outside of the actual date I went into labor, I had this all mapped out in my head. I knew that as soon as Camden was born, I would allot myself a full two weeks from putting up a longer blog post.
So here I am.
Needless to say, these past two weeks have been nothing short of a whirlwind. One minute, I was sitting on a yoga ball, trying to induce labor, and the next, J and I were alternating getting up in the middle of the night to feed and change this perfect little infant.
These past two weeks have been spent mostly inside the house, the daytime downstairs in the family room, which has now been taken over by baby stuff, and at night, we exhaustedly make our way back upstairs to prepare for the long overnight haul of feedings and changings. We have had a few outings, mostly to run an errand or two, just to try running around with a baby in tow, but generally, we have kept to ourselves and kept ourselves on house arrest.
We have also spent much of this time doing what any new parents do: taking naps when we can and taking an exorbitant number of pictures of this little girl we are so lucky to call ours.
I admit that there have been times when I have felt lonely and a little lost. I'm sure that every new mother has felt this at one point or another. Suddenly, J and I went from this easygoing life of taking off whenever and wherever we wanted to being almost prisoners in our home. Our schedule and calendars, which were so precisely synched {thanks to our Google calendars}, were suddenly hijacked and turned into this erratic and unpredictable series of events. For someone who relies so heavily on a perfect schedule, this transition has been difficult and at times, felt isolating. My world and my home were turned upside down.
Anything and everything I have been told about parenthood is true, and then some. The difficulty, the challenges, the rules made and broken, and most of all, the rewards. I still look at my little girl several times a day in wonder and awe.
Of all the things I have learned thus far, however, it is this: being a mother is the most wonderful and rewarding thing I have ever signed up for. In Camden's face, I see all the happiness, all the hope, and all the promise of our future. She is the perfect storm -- everything we have been through, both bad and good, has come to fruition in this perfect little creature. I wouldn't trade my sleepless nights {or days} for anything in the world.
