One Red Hot Country Mama!

You know, I have to say, I enjoy being a Mom more than I ever expected. In seeing other Moms, I saw them doing so much laundry and housework, and I doubted that I would ever want to do it. I also had a lifetime fear of giving birth, and the pain that it would bring.

But, birth was no big deal. It was not easy, but having the flu or even filing my taxes was much harder than giving birth for me (mine was uncomplicated). And, the laundry and changing diapers is no big deal either. I think that because the baby is so precious and I love him so much, it does not seem so bad. The hardest part is being tired, but even that is bearable considering the reward of having him in my life.

As mentioned in other posts, I think our world today, with information overload is so full of “what ifs” that it can prevent us from trying some of the most enjoyable experiences, such as having a baby. Yes, I am less free than I was before, but my life is so much fuller. I feel as though there was this door that was unlocked inside of me and there is this whole new world to explore.I feel more open to life and new experiences now than I have in at least a decade.

Both me and Matt can have so much fun just looking at him, or seeing how he changes from day to day. Like when he was first here at home, his arms moved, undulating like crazy. Now, he has good arm control and grasps onto us as we carry him. Wow! A grin of recognition. Cool! It is all these little things that make this experience so amazing.

—–

Update: in re-reading this post, I realize that I may have come off as being like “everything is perfect now that I am a mom”. That is not the case. Every day, there is a moment of going “oh my god, this is so hard” when he is crying and fussing… but he is definitely worth it…

Join us in welcoming Allan Jack Forbes born January 6th, 2011. We are all doing well!

As our baby’s due date approaches, we are trying to get as ready as possible. The parents I know say that it is impossible, that you can never really be prepared, but hey, we got to try our best anyway. So – we got a crib from my sister, a new changing table some fun decor such as a giant paper butterfly and a metallic lizard from this crazy importer of international stuff near our home called Primitive Designs.

Another thing that is getting ready for baby’s room is some cloth diapers. Although I am totally NOT into adding a bunch of complication in my life, I am going to try it out to see what happens. The happy surprise as I do the research, is that is an industry FULL of women entrepreneurs! I did my initial order at Caterpillar Baby. I ordered at 12:00 PM during a Monday, and got the order first thing Tuesday morning. They have a great article on their website called Why Cloth – 10 Good Reasons. Biggest reason for me is the landfill use – it is gross to think that the diapers will still be around in 100s of years, and the fact that their are 4 million diapers being thrown away in Canada alone is insane. It is also a good money saver, especially if we have more than one eventually.

The diapers we chose were Bum Genius. We got both the newborn ones and the expandible ones. The newborn ones are much more simple looking, they are just a cloth version of the familiar disposable. They have very hip colors (we got a soft blue and a bright green combo) and they are super-soft on the inside, so will be comfy for the new little boy. The expandible ones look a bit more complicated, so I think I may opt to get different sizes as he gets bigger, rather than stuffing and popping at different sizes.

As an entrepreneur, Bum Genius is a very cool looking company. The CEO is a woman named Jennifer Labit, and the company has grown significantly as the cloth diaper industry is exploding. Similar to the way that engineering entrepreneurs have been tinkering around in their garages creating companies like HP and Apple, it is cool that Labit, and other entrepreneurs like her are tinkering around with their sewing machines and creating such cool companies.

In my last month of pregnancy, I have no idea what the future holds… even though we can’t plan for everything, we might as well go into it as ready as possible!