:: the TRUTH about motherhood : part 3 ::

::Procrastination is not an Option::

He’s 4 months old now and boy have things changed around the Shepard house. There is so much I never knew, never knew to expect, and never knew to worry about.

I went into this whole “solid foods” stage with absolutely zip in knowledge. The first almost week of cereal was totally trial and error (ok, ok, it still is). How much cereal? How much formula? How thick? How much will he eat? How much should he eat? How long before he figures out the swallowing thing? or does he just hate the taste? Sidenote: baby cereal (especially the rice kind) smells awful. Ick. He eventually figured it out and I did too. And man, does he have the eating down. He’s up to 17 lbs (94%) and 27 inches long (97%) which puts him somewhere around the size of an average 8.5 month old. Yikes. We’re definitely thinking NBA. Oh yeah.

To be honest, I didn’t expect at this point that I’d really really be enjoying it this much. Thanks to the kid’s amazing sleep habits, I’ve managed to figure out systems that really work for me, my business, and my body. With a thyroid condition, taking care of my body is sort of key to operating and an optimum level. While I’m not likely to get “optimum” (let’s just be real here, right?), I’m at least managing to get some exercise daily and eating somewhat better than a few months ago. That means that I’m actually caught up on my photo work (even though I’ve actually been working more in the past few months than at this time last year) and I’m about 15+ lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight (holla!!!!). And for one simple reason.

Procrastination is no longer an option. Period.

When he’s awake, it’s all him all the time. We play, we laugh (his Daddy gets him to giggle), we look at things, we explore, we try new things. But when the kiddo goes down for his nap, BAM! I’ve got t-minus 2.5 hours to get everything done (on average) and then we’re at it again. I get 2 naps a day for the rest of my life (workout, shower, photo work, editing, phone calls, emails, house cleaning, etc) and somehow, it’s working about 90% (let’s just say my house is less clean than it ought to be….). I used to be one of those wait-till-the-last-minute type people. But, like many other things in my life, that too has changed. I am slightly annoyed that all those teachers, parents, and friends that told me I’d feel better about myself if I didn’t procrastinate are right though. Because it probably means I’ll be that parent now too. *sigh*

I know none of this is particularly revelatory, but it’s our life right now. I’ve gotten a lot in balance, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. I’m still trying to juggle being “mom”, “photographer”, “business woman”, and “wife” and I definitely don’t have it down yet. Or even close. We’re experimenting with a lot of options (including home-made baby food – YIKES!) and we’re keeping what works and forgetting what doesn’t. It’s actually quite amazing how quickly chaos became almost comfortable.

And motherhood, though ridiculously complicated and hard (I usually feel like I’m trying to navigate a through a jungle with blinders and no bug spray), has been kind of awesome too. Like, kind of way awesome.

Ok, have to sign off now. I’m shooting a wedding tonight (and another on the weekend!) so time to switch gears. Rest assured that a blog with wedding photos is coming soon. And all my non-parent readers rejoiced.

::b::