Motherhood: The 8 Month Mark

Makena reacts to seeing flowers for the first time in her life. At which she promptly yanked the flowers off!
April 13, 2012. 

When I think back over the last 8 months of motherhood, I have two thoughts at one. The first is, wow, I've made it this far. The second is, wow, how did I do it? I mean it when I say that standing on two feet at the 8 month mark is a feat for any mother. For those with twins, you are a miracle worker!



Many women are faced with the debate: Motherhood vs. Career. I don't think you should have to chose.

I'm in the boat that wants to have both, and I believe it is something that can be done. American women, with standard maternity leave policy of only six weeks can attest that it has to be done. There isn't a luxury to pick for many American women. With the hormones, the emotions, the physical need for a women to recover, let alone creating the bond between child and family, the American work force has got it wrong. The Canadians have got it right. Women north of the border have a year of maternity leave, which often provides fathers with the same opportunity for a one year maternity leave. It's no wonder that the Canadians have better statistics of marriage and healthy children. We won't even get into the ridicilous nature of health care for children in the States. Yet, it still remains that every women does have to make a choice to work or not. I can't express the gratitude of love to my husband that blesses our family so that I can stay home and care for Makena.

My watercolor of Daddy rocking Makena to sleep.

Although my husband is covering all the important costs of living so that I can stay at home with Makena, I still find myself ambitiously tackling my career. Can I betray my American roots for a second? In the first three months of motherhood, I landed an agent in LA to represent a non-fiction book. It was pitched to a brilliant publisher in SanFran, which to my chagrin was rejected not because it wasn't worthy, but because they had just purchased a book of a similar nature. It was a project that was meant to be a fun creative sort of venture, but I pitched to my agent that I could turn it into a traditional book. She loved the idea, and gulp, I wrote a brand new 50-page proposal. All within the first three months of motherhood! God, why I did it? Inspiration. Hope. Why not? It wasn't like I was sleeping anyways! Lord, it's no wonder I can't fathom how I made it out alive during those months. It was a bit over the top ambitious, but I did it. The title is still under consideration, which didn't stop me from pitching a second book idea! All this while I peck away at revising my novel. Toss in my misadventures into sewing and watercolors/art. You'd think I could leap tall buildings in a single bound! But the reality is that all that hard work hasn't really taken me off anywhere and I do have moments of feeling guilty that I've missed some valuable time with Makena. She is after all only a baby, once. But, humbug, to the guilt! Newborns do sleep all the time. If you aren't sleeping when the baby is sleeping, then take that time and make it work for you. Take a dream and work toward it. Steal those moments when you might just sit in front of the TV and instead get creative. Try and change your future, maybe your entire family tree, by being you. Every ounce of energy and love you give yourself, is given to everyone else in your life!

Last week, Makena was sick, which meant I wasn't blogging. There was also an accident that involved Makena falling off the bed, but thankfully she landed on pillows! It was crazy stressful. If you are a new mom reading this post, I want to tell you that you shouldn't feel guilty taking time for yourself. Don't feel that if you are a stay-at-home mom that it means you are only capable of doing the dishes and laundry. Forget it, you can do more! And that is a valuable lesson. Small, baby steps, will get you where you want to go! My daughter teaches me that valuable lesson every moment I'm with her. 

Life is better with babies, with fur or without! 

Our Baby Milestones tackled do far:

• Rolling Over (4 months)
• Eating Solids (She started at 5 1/2 months)
• Sitting up (End of 6 Months)
• Crawling (7 Months)
• Pulling herself to Standing (End of 7 Months)
• Saying Dada and Mama (8 Months!)
• Walking...she is almost there!! WOW!!