Welcome Back Me!

Welcome to 2015. Welcome to motherhood. Welcome to a completely different life.

I'm currently sitting on my living room couch, holding a sleeping 10-week-old baby in my arms and typing away on my new Kindle Fire (birthday present and my way to still-do-things while nursing many, many times a day). I've decided that the best advice I get is super practical advice. My sis told me that a Kindle would be a wise investment, and it has been. It is phenomenal for reading, checking out social media, watching videos and now- since I just received the new keyboard in the mail today... writing! It's welcome back to blogging, Naomi!! Woohoo!

So how are things, you might be asking?
Finally, I can say... things are great! Amazing! Awesome! Life is really good. Though I'll probably do a real introduction to my dear sweet child post and perhaps even be crazy enough to post a birth story, right now let me just sum up... things are good.

I feel like we have finally settled into our new normal. Childbirth was the hardest-and-most-rewarding experience of my life. Recovery from childbirth was surprisingly not-very-fun. Learning nursing was challenging, but we battled through it. Adjusting to time schedule/caring for a wee bebe 24 hours a day was probably the easiest thing... and it was still tough. But now I'm feeling like.. wow, this is great. We fought the high'n'mighty ocean waves for awhile, and while I can't go as far to say that it is smooth sailing from here, at least I have come to a place where my body doesn't hurt all the time and I'm not afraid to leave the house anymore.

Being a mother is both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. And it just feels right. Like this is what I was meant to do. Probably because it really is what I'm meant to do. I remember one of the first personal conversations I had with my future husband (though just a friend at the time). Brandon asked me, "So what do you want to be when you grow up?" Or something to that effect. I was an adult at the time already.. I answered, "A wife and mother," with only the slightest bit of hesitation. I knew that wasn't the normal response and I knew that to say that to a single guy could be construed as me being too forward, but I felt compelled to speak with complete honesty. My honest and simple answer made an impact, and though I didn't know it at the time, this man would become my husband and we would build those family dreams together.

It is surreal to look down and see our child--our little "papoose"--who though he is tiny, he has a love tank that is filled with love for mommy and daddy. It is amazing to realize that this little one is ours to hold, to love, to provide for, to comfort, to smile with, to play and run and talk and live life with for years and years to come.

While I believe that parents are supposed to parent, not be BFFs with their children, there is a large part of parenting that is friendship. I look back at my own life and it is a sweet thing to see that my closest friends were always my family. That long road trips (even up to five weeks long---we were homeschooled) with the family were not duty or torture, they were ridiculous amounts of FUN. We loved spending time together... And that's what I'm looking forward to with our son and other future children... living life with my nearest and dearest friends. Experiencing everything with the joy and wonder in a child's heart.

This is new and real and amazing. This step out of Couple and into Family. We are building something grand. Building a home where Love lives. And it is good.