Thursday, December 20, 2012

Favorite things #20

Sometimes I think as parents we get so caught up in the day to day busyness of caring for our children that we forget to enjoy the good moments of parenthood. That is why one of my favorite things to do when the children are all in bed is look back over some of our old photos and videos.

 E1
 E2
 E3
E4

It brings back great memories and makes me stop and remember how far we have come and look forward to milestones that are ahead. I also find myself a bit more patient the next day and able to slow down and just enjoy being with the kids.

These days E4 is still waking up at night to feed and at times he wakes up multiple times at night which makes for a very tired mommy. But then I try to put things into perspective and remember when E1 used to run into our room every single night and my husband would sometimes get a little impatient and wonder when he would stop doing that. And I told him, "Honey, he won't be doing this his whole life, you should enjoy this time when he wants to be with us. There will come a day when he doesn't want to ever sleep with us again and you're going to miss it!"

So now I'm going to enjoy the night feedings even though it makes me very tired the next day because I know these moments of closeness will not be around forever and I will miss them in the future.

Have you taken a break today and just enjoy being with your kids? Go ahead and give them a hug while you're at it!

Zi

9 comments:

  1. You're right, it's always nice to look back on what is only a few years (or months!) and enjoy the moments we have now :). Great baby photos! Look how small they were!

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  2. So, J is having the same thing - waking up once or more during the night and coming to look for us. Sometimes it's easy to get him back to bed, other times, like last night, he was about to throw a tantrum. So you're saying that J will eventually stop doing this and we don't have to come up with a plan or anything to stop this??

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    1. E1 used to wake up just to sleep in our bed. I don't remember when but eventually he stopped and now if he does wake up, which is not too often anymore, he actually wants to go back to his room. As for E4, we need to work on weaning him, so there is talk of a strategy but we haven't even figured out what exactly that strategy will be. None of my other kids nursed till this old, so this is new territory for us.

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    2. Good to know, for J. We've found that now that he's not as sick (no runny/stuffiness nose), he wakes up less and less! As for the weaning, E4 is only 1 right? Great job nursing for this long!!! You mean weaning during the night time only? I'd say just let him nurse less and less every few days. That's how we weaned J off his formula when he was 9 months. Eventually, he just didn't get up if he was only going to get 3oz of formula. Good luck!

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    3. Yeah E4 is almost 1...trying to wean him off nursing and move on to cow's milk soon. I barely nurse him during the day anymore, he is willing to use a cup but at night it is a different story. He nurses mostly for comfort I think. Thanks for the advice!

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  3. Aww...I love the little hands sticking up! I would've loved to spend more time with the kids today, but homework & Chinese & piano occupied their time, while baking cookies and cupcakes for holiday parties occupied mine. Thankfully, we have a nice long break coming up to enjoy time together.

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    1. Yes, hopefully we will all get to spend more time together during the long break! Have a happy holiday Asianmommy!

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  4. I love the baby pictures of your children. What a great perspective to have when it comes to doing things for our children that is exhausting. You are a great mama!

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    1. You are so sweet Mandy! I just wish I could maintain the positive attitude at all times. You are a great mom as well!

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