Saturday, February 2, 2013

The highs and lows


I have drafted so many blog entries in my head, some highs and some lows, but haven’t had the chance to get them out.  So this blog is a bit of an overall update.

Oliver is now 12 weeks old.  He’s a great little guy and is doing all the right things, putting on good weight, reaching cute little milestones and generally being the sunshine of my life. 

The first few weeks were a big learning curve about how I wanted to approach this parenting thing.  I really hadn’t thought too much about the actually getting a baby in my arms bit and had just been focusing on getting through the pregnancy.  And then he was in my arms and I had to consider what to do with this little bundle of life. Everyone seemed to tell you a different approach as to how it should all go down but in the end we figured out our own way and it works great for us both.

Being Ollie’s mum is just the best.  Not having experienced all this before is just the worst.  I have been loving and enjoying so many beautiful moments with Ollie and as I sit there gazing at his face and so happy, I find myself so sad that I didn’t get this with my daughter.  I miss her most in the moments of happiness.

Christmas sprung up on me after giving birth to Ollie and it didn’t hit me how sad I was that I didn’t have a 15 month kid pottering around until quite close to the day.   I am trying to move away from the “I should have a 15 month old here today” statement at Christmas time or any other time.  She will always be remembered on Christmas day, but as she was, my first baby who will never grow up.  I want to try to be in the current moment and to allow new happiness with Oliver (I have a feeling that this is easier said that done however).

I find the turn of the year much harder than Christmas day.  New Year’s eve I was completely fine until the countdown and as the clock ticked over into 2013 I felt so sad… another year further away from her.  Another year further into missing her and dealing with societies expectation to be ‘over it’.

I still think of her every day, EVERY day. Oliver has been a little band aid to my broken heart.  He holds it together, but unfortunately even he can’t heal the scars that have been etched into it. 




5 comments:

  1. Oh yes to all of this. So happy do sad. Tge happy makes the sad sadder. I'm glad you are finding your way as a mum. We all have to find our own way ... But the path is tricky and trecherous when grief is wrangling on our backs.

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  2. I love the name Oliver!! So sweet :) I think every day I should have an 18 month old baby toddling around. Every time I go out into the world I think about how my life would be different if I were putting Nathaniel in and out of a car seat, or pushing him in a stroller, and wondering what new friends I would be making because they have a baby Nathaniel's age.

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  3. It is probably good to try and move away from the "I should have a child who is x age" but I'm definitely not there yet. I still think about it every day. I love that Oliver is the sunshine of your life. So cute. And yes, gazing at their little faces is simply the best!

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  4. "I miss her most in the moments of happiness." So true. Often I find my heart spilling over with joy at the infant in front of me and then it wells into tears as I grieve all that my son missed out on and all that we missed in parenting him.

    Like Renel said, "The Happy makes the sad sadder." It's like our hearts have been blown wide open and just as we feel sorrow and anguish deeper than we've ever felt, so to do we feel joy and happiness deeper.

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  5. Missing the most in moments of happiness... my goodness yes! It seems that our true mama sadness comes out in those moments. It's such a pure love we have for our firstborns. Something we cherishes and were so excited to have. The rest of our lives will remain bittersweet in that regard, I imagine.

    Those scars I have can't be healed either. It's as though they're etched right in as well. These babies are sure a good salve, but those battle scars are deep.

    I'm just so grateful to read all is going well with Amelia's little brother. So happy he is here with you.

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