Hey, it’s Cassandra here. I think this is probably the best first post I can offer right now. Currently the two muchkins are taking their naps and I am indulging in a little baby and toddler free time. With my first baby, it was hard for me to take time to myself. I had a really hard time setting her down, even to go to the bathroom. I was so overwhelmed with the responsibility of parenting, I was constantly on edge and hovering over her every move. Now that we have added number two to the growing brood, I find that I am a lot more casual about milestones, crankiness, clothing, going out, etc…Before I was obsessively tracking all of the “average” baby milestones through my handy dandy What to Expect When You Are Expecting App, fretting over every little cough, sniffle, and eye movement. She couldn’t grow up fast enough. I wanted her rolling over at three months, sitting up at six months, crawling at whenever they say she should be crawling, and walking by one year. To be honest, in all of my efforts to watch her into these milestones, I forgot to write any of them down. I also put way too much pressure on her and on me as her mother. She didn’t hit a single one of those averages. She eventually learned to roll over, whenever that was. She sat up around seven months, I think. She was walking around Christmas time, a few months after her first birthday. Her first word was “no” and it happened last year. When was her first tooth? Don’t know, don’t care to be honest. Once I started settling into the parenting thing with her, I stopped worrying about what she was doing and just let her take the lead. We play every day, snuggle, read books, watch probably too much YouTube, and I let her play drink my coffee while she tells me how good it is. I love being her mother and once I let go of all of the stuff, it really helped me enjoy the ride.

Now that we have added baby number two, things are smooth sailing. Norah does all the normal baby stuff, but I am a lot more relaxed about the fact that she doesn’t look like she is going to roll over anytime soon. I look at her and see a happy baby. I can’t teach her to roll over and I certainly can’t will her to sit up on her own. My husband and I both are amazed at her every day. We talk about how strong she seems compared to our first daughter. I think our perspective is different. We both realize that we get to be their parents and it’s a pretty awesome job.

So ladies who are fretting about milestones, enjoy your life. Strap your baby on and go for a walk outside. Baby playtime is best spent with you. They are so busy growing, just give them love and don’t worry about all the different developmental toys. It’s going to be okay, really. One day they will roll over, sit up, crawl, pull up, take those first few steps, and before long, they are going to start telling you “no” and borrowing the car to go on their first of many first dates. It’s good to educate yourself, but step back and enjoy the ride, because they are only young once.