{ Motherhood Lately }

This has been one of those weeks that I've had so much to say, but haven't been able to get the thoughts clear enough in my mind to write them down. Beginnings of posts have been floating around in my mind, I just haven't sat down to write.

For about 3 or 4 months now, we have thought Oliver was teething. It was the explanation we gave ourselves when he had a fussy day. No teeth ever materialized, however, so I gave up on that theory. Well, this week is the real deal. We discovered two little white bumps on his gums and any day now, those little teeth are going to pop out!

Boy, have the last couple of weeks been tough! Poor little guy has been so miserable at night. Now I understand the "all night" stories associated with teething. There's been plenty of sleepless nights lately, holding a screaming baby and no idea what to do to help him. Lots of tears from mommy too. I haven't known how I'm going to survive 4 hours of sleep at night (that was the worst night), or the anxiety of lying down and being afraid to go to sleep just to be woken up again. On a pleasant note, in the midst of all this, though, feeding him oatmeal before bed has been getting him to sleep ALL night long on his good nights, waking up at 7 am for the first time ever. We're counting our blessings. It's been the worst and the best of nights lately.

I am also expecting a new bundle of joy at the beginning of January! We are so very excited, a bit overwhelmed, and so, so happy. But as you can imagine, sleep is a precious thing for me right now and my emotions are taking everyone for a roller coaster ride at any given moment.

Being a mom has certainly helped me to see aspects of my character (and lack thereof) in a whole new light. Life is SO much busier than I could have ever imagined. People used to tell me that. I've always heard moms talk about how tired and overwhelmed they are, but it never really registered, you know? I recognized this week, that when I was a single woman I used to get frustrated at times with my friends who were married and those who were mothers because I felt neglected by them sometimes. It felt like they didn't have time for a relationship with me or that maybe I didn't mean as much to them anymore. For the first time, this week, I was able to see how wrong that perspective was. How wrong I was to take offense. Now it is my turn to be the married woman, the mom, and I don't intend to neglect my friends and I don't think of them as less important than before, I just don't have the same kind of time I used to have. I didn't understand that as a single woman, and I can see now that I couldn't understand. It was impossible to know until I was there. I wish I could take back those thoughts, I wish I could go back and show the appropriate grace. I want to go forward now and give my single friends grace when I see them frustrated with me. I want to diligently budget my time so that I can show my friends that I still care deeply about them, even though I can't communicate as often.

Oliver has also started crawling. He took off on his 8 month birthday. By the end of that week, he was also pulling himself up to a standing position. He is now beginning to "cruise", getting from place to place by holding onto the furniture. We're SO proud of him.

Life is very busy these days, never a dull moment. Our little boy is growing so fast. We've got to savor each precious moment. He is quickly becoming more of a little boy than a baby. So proud of him.... but it puts a lump in my throat. Where is the time going?