What a whirlwind parenting is when you get thrown into it with your first born! You are thrown into a new world you didn't even realize existed and it is quite scary! You work through the struggles of raising a newborn and learn something new about yourself and your baby every day. Though the struggles are huge in the beginning, the successes and the sweet baby milestones quickly outweigh all of the struggles. There really is no better more-magical time of life than the first year of parenthood! Somewhere about 6 months in you realize that you are capable of this whole parenting thing and you live off of coffee and baby kisses. Each morning you wake up and stare at this perfect little human that YOU created. I remember racing Carson upstairs in the morning to get Saylor out of her crib because we both wanted those first morning smiles!!! Seriously nothing better.
The first year is full of so many sweet moments and big milestones. The first smile. Rolling over. Belly laughs. Sitting up. Trying real food. First words. Crawling. Walking. All huge moments and the biggest burst of happiness each and every month watching your new baby learn, grow, and come into her own.
Then....then you blink and your baby is turing 2.....then 3!
All of a sudden this tiny perfect little bundle of joy is a toddler, and toddler-hood smacks you in the face so fast you don't even know what happened! Tantrums, whining, crying about nothing, hitting, biting, refusing bedtime, refusing to eat, telling you NO, kicking the wall....
You saw other parents dealing with this while you were snuggling your cute little sleeping infant, but never did you REALLY picture yourself in their shoes. Never did you picture yourself being the Mom in Target with a toddler having a full on meltdown! yikes!
Yes, you still LOVE your child without a doubt, but for the first time EVER you are thinking to yourself that they are acting a little asshole! You may need more mom-breaks or drink more wine, but things definitely change and it was a change that I did not see coming.
There was a moment for me when I realized that toddler-hood is a whole different ball game. Toddler-hood is exhausting and requires SO. MUCH. PATIENCE! When that little baby starts walking, all of a sudden it is your job to follow them around and make sure they do not DIE. They have no reasoning skills so it is your job to make sure that your clumsy toddler does not decide it is a good idea to step off a 3-foot step and smack their face into the concrete. E-X-H-A-U-S-T-I-N-G!
Now being an experienced toddler-raiser, I see those Moms struggling in public with their kid(s) and just want to hug them and tell them they are doing a GREAT job!
Three
My first baby, Saylor Aryah, is almost 3.5 years old! Though we had our days and our struggles when she was 2, it really was a pretty good year! I didn't think the terrible twos were so terrible! We learned how to discipline her and what worked and what did not. For the most part she was very eager to please us and really did not like being in trouble!
Now three has been difficult...
Saylor is coming into her own and has SO much sass and SO many opinions. She is smart and she is stubborn. She is soaking up everything around her. She is emotional and very hard-headed. She likes to break the rules just to make sure the consequences are still there. She is bossy. She likes to have power, even the smallest amount. She likes to do things ALL BY HERSELF. She is scared of things. She tells lies. She is a normal 3-year-old just learning all the things about this big world!
All of those things are very frustrating as a parent (especially if you have a new baby AND a new 3-year-old). There are days that I want to scream and pull my hair out. Days when I feel I am not capable of raising a toddler....
However, I have learned that she is growing and progressing as she SHOULD, and I am the one who needs to learn how to parent a three-year-old. This is new territory for us so we are not only giving her grace but ourselves too! We are slowly learning what works and what does not and I am happy to report that things are going great and we are enjoying our time together lately!
All about Saylor at 3-years-Old
Though as you can tell this age has been tricky for me....I want to remember every detail of Saylor at this age! I want to remember her sweet voice and her tender soul. I want to soak in all the innocence she has and the heart of gold💛
She loves it when we all are together and spend quality time as a family. She gets super giddy when we all are together and engaging, and we she looks around at all of us and tells us she loves us. Sweetest. Thing. EVER.
We are constantly laughing at her because she loves to be silly and make people smile. She just started 4-day preschool and every day she gets awesome notes from her teacher about her behavior. She loves to give hugs and tell you she loves you. She always wants to "race". We never had a problem getting her to go to be and she listens better than any other 3-year-old I know. She is SO sweet to her brother and seldom gets jealous. If I am doing laundry, she comes up and asks if she can help me. She is SO stinking smart and she talks NON-STOP like her Daddy. She says "why" 56404 times per day until exhaustion sets in on our faces :) I know she will do big things in her life and I hope she is always sweet, fearless, and outgoing just like she is now!
Saylor Loves:
Dinosaurs
Telling "jokes"
Paw Patrol
DAD
Playing with baby boy 💓She is the BEST big sister
Going to school
Playing hide-and-seek
Doing puzzles
Pretending to be a mermaid
Eating- she eats like a grown man!
Going to Target with Mom
Playing piano with Dad
Sitting down at dinner time and talking as a family
Wearing dresses
Sleeping with Monkey and Fox
Putting on Mom's makeup
Making other people laugh!
Being Social- she thrives in social environments
Sitting down and reading a book
Going to gymnastics
Sleeping! She still naps and sleeps 12 hours at night (still sleeping in her crib)#cribforlife
Playing with her cousins
Playing with her baby dolls and putting them to "bed"
Funny things she says now:
Don't do me like that
I am your friend Momma
Can you go check on big-boy?
I don't want the Bump-truck to come get our trash!
You cannot pop me, I am not a balloon!
Yummy, good eating!
I have to Poop!
I did not fart, it was Dad
I can have one of those laler(later)
When I get bigger I can do that
I love we house (she hasn't gotten our down yet)
Why, why, why, why, why, why?
Yesterday, I was a baby
Can we go to the store and get more food
Can I have some lunch (right when she wakes up in the morning)
There is SO much more I could say about our sweet girl. I could write about her and her personality forever! For now, I will hope that this post give me a glimpse into the past when I read it to her years down the road 💓
-Love Mom
