Believe it or not in those 9 everlasting months of being pregnant I read a total of ZERO baby books. The occasional Pin on Pinterest would catch my eye, and I would flip through the occasional parenting magazine while waiting in the doctor’s office, but for the most part I made a conscious choice not to spend my time reading baby books. Looking back on this choice it seems silly that I was so anti-preparation. I never attended a birth class and I skipped the hospital tour. Perhaps it was my severe state of denial during pregnancy or perhaps it was my fear of learning all of these ‘suppose to’ things and then failing at them.
Raising a child shouldn’t be a race to each milestone, it should be filled with love and constant attention every step of the way. This is why I never put Lila a schedule, keeping our moments enriched and natural listening to each other’s cues is what worked best for us. It’s stressful to have alarms going off and having your day revolving around something that makes life seem so rushed. I wanted to soak it all in and savor every second. It’s a refreshing reminder to slow down to actually enjoy moments and adventures.
As Lila gets older and as we look back on when she was a newborn or just a few months old, we don’t feel an ounce of sadness. We were there. Like really, really there. We look back and our hearts feel full knowing that we there raising her and teaching her and loving her. We don’t look back and say “Dang, we really should have gone on dates and gone out alone more.” We are so grateful that each other feels the same way about raising our child and that we have savored each moment so intensely as a family.
