For you, what's the hardest aspect of parenting?
Mine is dealing with criticism, passive aggressive comments, and advice from family. Sometimes it causes me a great deal of stress and occasionally I can let it roll off. I'm a perfectionist (working on it!) so outright critiques are tough to stomach, and then tactfully responding is another challenge. Example A, yesterday after another one of her frequent jabs I told my mother "she was a good grandma but a terror of a mother". Whoops!
Re: The hardest part of parenting...
Even when someone else is watching her, the weight of the responsibility weighs heavy. I've never left her more than a few hours but I'm always worried she's giving someone a hard time or that she's not getting what she needs/what I usually do for her.
I'm one of those moms who hover when someone wants to hold my baby. I just want to make sure they can easily give her back if she fusses or if they just want their arms free.
Even at night, with her sleeping through for the most part, I still wake up upwards of 4 times a night just to check on her. It feels like I'm never truly at ease.
BFP September 2013 - MMC at 12 weeks
BFP February 2014 - early loss/CP at 4.5 weeks
BFP May 2014 - MMC/ complete molar pregnancy at 11 weeks
BFP December 2015 - DD born 8/18/2015
BFP November 2016 - pending...
- I can't make him better when he's sick or I can't take his pain away when he gets hurt.
- Knowing I can't protect him from the world when he's older
Hard things for me:
-seeing my kids in pain & not being able to do anything.
-days where i cant give them each enough "mommy time".
-watching them grow. DD will be 6 in August & starting 1st grade in August. Boys 1 in September. I will be 24 with a 1st grader! My baby is not a baby anymore. Time is passing by, my babys are growing & theres nothing i can do about it. It is nice seeing them learn & grow, its just bitter-sweet.
Also, I am a constant worrier. I can hardly read the news anymore without wanting to cry, so many scary things out there and little babies getting hurt or abused. It breaks my heart to see those stories and I worry enough about my LO as it is.
When she's sick or hurt, especially because she can't tell me if something's wrong other than crying so I have to guess.
The anxiety knowing I can't protect her from everything, especially with all the horrible things on the news these days. I'm terrified that someone is going to kidnap her, but at the same time, I want her to have the freedom to be independent and explore her world. I'm seriously thinking of buying her one of those pet tracking devices when she gets older.
-Afraid of her getting hurt or sick.
Honestly lately the hardest part is realizing he'd rather explore then cuddle. He won't fall asleep in my arms anymore. It's crib or nothing! I am far from a typical first time mom and am older than most, I think that has a lot to do with my more laid back approach. That's actually been hard, I don't carry sanitizer, I don't ask everyone to wash their hands before picking him up, I don't worry about normal germs and I've gotten some comments and looks. But guess what my baby has had one cold he got from me and the pediatrician agrees he needs to be exposed to germs to build an immune system. The litter box and shoes are the only things that are completely off limits for him to touch.
For me, the hardest was starting school. We were blessed for the first 7 months of his life that family was able to provide care. But a few weeks ago we started daycare full time. I know he loves it. He already doesn't care when I come to pick him up - just keeps playing and playing (as long as he can see me). But I still have this enormous sense of guilt every morning when I drop him off.
Also, we had to supplement with formula for the first time last week because I was sick and dehydrated and we'd used up every last drop of my freezer stash. Pouring that bottle of formula is the only thing so far that has made me cry. I know there's nothing wrong with formula (I know plenty of formula fed babies - I was one too) but I was super disappointed that I'd made it so far only to need formula at 9 months.
Married 2013
Kiddo #1: Sept 2015
BFP: 1/19, EDD: 9/30
"I'm having fruit salad for dinner. Well, it's mostly just grapes, actually. Ok all grapes. Fermented grapes. Fine, I'm having wine for dinner."