Doctors

Last week we all had a stomach bug and ended up having to take our daughter to the ER for the first time. :(

I don't know about you, but I always feel awkward around Doctors/Nurses when it comes to my baby. They're doing all the stuff they need to do, and I don't want to get in the way, but I feel weird just standing there and watching.

Especially when my husband is there too! Then we're both standing there, wondering what we should be doing. And even if one of us does need to be helping, they don't need both of us.

I mean, I guess it doesn't really matter and the Doctors probably don't notice or care. But sometimes I want them to just tell me what to do! haha

I notice this whenever we have one of the regular well check ups. My husband and I both go, and they only need one person to help when weighing, measuring, etc. So if my husband helps with that, I don't know if I should just sit down and wait, or if I should be watching, or waiting, or trying to help too...

I don't want to miss out or anything. I like seeing how much she weighs and things like that. But I feel like I'm just in the way if I follow everyone around. And I feel like a bad mom if I just sit there.

Or when she needs to get shots. We just have to stand there and watch her, both awkwardly trying to comfort her without getting to pick her up.

I guess it would look different if we had another kid to preoccupy us, so maybe it's just a first child thing. Or maybe it's just me thinking too much. But in the end, I think feeling like I'm in the way is better than standing back and missing things.

What do you do when you go to the Doctor's?

Alone Time

Having a baby is a huge life change, in every way.

I wasn't working before my daughter was born, so I suddenly went from having too much alone time to not enough! As an introvert, I need to have time to myself to kind of re-charge. I used to get plenty of that while my husband was at work all day. And I'll admit, I could be pretty lazy at times. But everything is different now.

Now I am responsible for another human being! Someone who relies on me for EVERYTHING. I have to be constantly paying attention, even if it's just out of the corner of my eye, or during nap time, when I still have to be available and listening.

It is so much harder now to get that alone time I need to keep functioning. I often catch myself zoning out when my husband is home because I know he can take care of our daughter if she needs something.

If I get an opportunity to go out while my husband watches the baby, I sometimes feel like I'm wasting it by doing social things. I often want to just stay home and let my husband take our daughter somewhere else, so I can get that alone time I need. That isn't always easy though, especially because she nurses about every 2 hours.

One big thing I've noticed also, is how draining it is to get up and have to change and feed my daughter right away. I feel a lot better when I am able to get up before she does and take my time to get ready first. I am so not a morning person though, so at this point, it's more worth it for me to get every minute of extra sleep I can!

I still haven't figured out a good way to get my alone time in the midst of all my new responsibilities, but I'm trying different things. Hopefully I'll find something that works well soon!

Many times my husband will take our daughter downstairs and give me time to do whatever I want, and that's really nice. But living in a small house makes it hard to block out little noises. Maybe I should try to listen to music!

What do you think? Do you have any tips on how to get real alone time once you become a mom?

I'm an introvert.

Well let's start with an introduction. :)

I'm a Christian mommy, and I'm an introvert (if you hadn't figured that out already).

When my daughter was born, I found that it is really hard to be an introverted mom!

In starting this blog, I have a few goals in mind...

• I want to be an encouragement to you, and hopefully challenge you to be the best mom you can be.

• If you are a mom like me, struggling with how to balance mommyhood with introversion, I want you to know that you are not alone.

• I want to know that I'm not alone!

• If you are an extrovert, I hope I can give you a different perspective so you can know how to relate to moms like me.

So I hope you'll stick around and see what I have to say. I would love your feedback too!