My Favourite Thing: Being a Mum (Parenting in general)

Member Name: aflynn

Product:	Parenting in general
Date:	12/07/02 (97 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: yummy gummy, sticky icky, little bubbas

Disadvantages: none

Ok so Bestmum beat me on writing about being a mum, but hey I can be second can?t I?? (By the way great user name:) )

As you may or may not know I have two children Charlotte aged 5 (born Christmas Day) and Ciaran aged 19 months (better planning this time - born November)

I had severe Post Natal Depression when I had Charlie so I couldn?t appreciate the magical feeling of that just born baby.

So to celebrate the first 12 months of Ciaran?s life I would like to post this opinion.

My pregnancy with Ciaran was quite a challenge!! I itched and scratched for Britain in the first 3 months and then in the last 7 months became the size of a baby elephant!! I loved my bump with a passion. There is such a brilliant feeling of carrying a baby inside of you. Feeling them kick for the first time (Please will the world BE QUIET - I?m sure my baby just moved!).

When I used to have a bath I used to lie there looking like a beached whale, splashing water over my bump to get Spud (Ciaran pre-birth) to move. I used to watch in wonder as my belly undulated before my very eyes, with bumps and lumps sticking out.

The birth was all I could have wished for - I stayed at home until the last minute, and went through the rest using just gas and air (how proud was I!!) He came into the world quietly - they had to kick-start him, not that I noticed, as I was busy with other things! When everything was over the Midwife brought this bundle towards me, all I could see was the top of a small head, covered in wet ginger hair. That sight will stay with me for the rest of my life - because that is the very moment I bonded with my baby.
Having not bonded with Charlie until she was about 1, I could only marvel at this wonderful feeling - it?s like catching your breath when it?s freezing cold outside.

I spent that night in hospital just gazing in wonder at my son. What a brilliant night, I was alone with him in a side room and
it was like we were the only people in the world.

Now I just love newborn babies. I love the fact that they are so soft, they smell gorgeous, and they have the ability to reduce you to tears with just a yawn.

I love the fact that babies are a blank canvas and that I am the painter, helping to shape a life into what will hopefully become a wonderful adult.

I love the first time they smile - a really genuine smile that starts with the eyes and works its way down to a lovely gummy grin. A smile that is filled with love.

I love the unconditional love, the fact that you are hero-worshipped because you can make fart noises with your mouth.

I love the way babies squeal with laughter. My mum has had to stop me making Ciaran laugh because he was getting hysterical!! But oh that laugh if I could bottle it would cure the world of all its ills.

I love the first attempts at walking - the first faltering steps, the look of wonder as they realise they are upright, then the look of astonishment as their legs give way.

I love their little chubby legs that have to be sucked and munched on every nappy change. I love the way the kneecap is hidden by a layer of chubbiness. The rolls of chub at the back of the knee - oooohhhh!!

I love the way Ciaran struts around with no clothes on at bath time. Sticking his little tummy out with his hands behind his back. Oh and along with legs - aren?t babies bums the most wondrous sight you will ever behold???
I love my son?s sense of humour (and a wicked one it is too!) - the way he pulls an ?astonished look? when you ask him to pull a funny face and then dissolving into giggles.

I love the babababa sounds when they start to talk, even though invariably the first word is dada!!

I love it when they are older too!

I love the way Charlie will run up and throw her arms around me saying I love you mum.

I love the way she says THANKS MOM
when I say yes to something she wants.

I love the way I am reduced to tears when I see her in her first assembly at school.

In fact I love the way I was reduced to tears on her first day at school!

I love the way Charlie asks questions like : 'Mommy why is grass?' Eh?

I was never the most maternal person - in fact I was the last person you would expect to have ankle biting rug rats! But you know - it really is the most fantastic thing I have ever done or will do.

My children - the most amazing things ever created, who are my most favourite thing in the entire universe and will be until the day I die!!

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Jill Murphy asked me to write about one of my favourite things to help her celebrate her fourth anniversary of cancer-free living and to remind ourselves of all the nice things in the world. It takes more muscles to make a frown than a smile you know.

If you'd like to join in, whether you've only just joined dooyoo, or you've been here ages, you're more than welcome. Just write about one of YOUR favourite things, make your title "A Favourite Thing: [your choice]" and include this paragraph at the foot of your opinion. And post before Friday, 9th August."

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