5 months and a Revelation

Stella turned 5 months old this week! I can't believe my baby is 5 months old already. Time is going by so quickly, but it also feels like she has been in our family forever.

She is such a blessing to me every day. Stella is smiley, cuddly, and laid back. I think we are through the 4 month fussy phase because she seems like she is back to her jolly little self. I still haven't started baby food with her yet, but I can tell she seems hungrier and has been eyeing us whenever we are eating, so I will probably start that this month.

She is a little slower than her sisters as far as gross motor development, partly because I haven't had the time to work with her on rolling and sitting, and partly because she's pretty lazy and doesn't like to move :) She is perfectly content to sit and watch what's going on and suck on her fingers or play with a toy. And I am in NO rush for her to become mobile, because I know eventually it will happen, and things will never be the same!

One day last week my mom took the big girls for the day to give me a break, and I had a revelation.

Babies are easy.

Because I'm so used to juggling all three of them together, only having to handle Stella was like a cake walk. Nurse, play, sleep. Rinse and Repeat. 

There is no negotiating, there is no disciplining, there is no screaming or whining. There is no heart training.

We recently read Shepherding a Child's Heart in our small group, and this quote is more true than I realized at the time,

"You must raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Parenting is your primary calling. Parenting will mean that you can't do all the things that you could otherwise do.... It will mean that you can't develop every interest that comes along. The cost is high."

It's exhausting to do parenting right. It's exhausting to engage with my children all day long. To read to them instead of turning on a movie, to get down on the floor and play with them instead of sitting on the couch. To discipline and train their hearts instead of just sending them to their room for a time out.

I remember how much help I needed when Lucy was first born. My mom practically lived with us for the first two weeks. Now I think, what in the world did I need help with? Babies are easy!

But really, at the end of that day of just having Stella, I was still in my pj's and no laundry was done and the house was a mess and I spent most of the day on the couch. So really, babies are hard too. Breastfeeding and schedules and cleaning up puke is exhausting too, in a different way.

So to sum it up, Babies are easy. But babies are hard.

That's all the wisdom I have for today. You're welcome.