Hi Friends! I have been on a very long blogging hiatus thanks to being a little busier these days… A bonus baby can really throw a monkey wrench in your blogging game. Who am I kidding, I was a lazy blogger even before Colton, lol! I wanted to share a little ten months in, ten months out perspective on life with baby. Because you are technically preggy for 10 months… and also because I never got my ‘ish together to write this post when he was 9 months! So here’s “4 Things I’ve Learned From Having A ‘Bonus Baby’. Plus, A 10 Month Update!
Lesson one: More present
One thing that comes to mind when I think of my experience having Colton at this point in my life, is that I have been more present with him than I was with my first two babies. Being older and seeing how fast my first two kids have grown up to 8 and 6, I know how fleeting it all truly is. So I appreciate this in a way I simply couldn’t with my first. I look at Colton in wonderment of what a blessing he is. I rock him a little longer at night, I kiss and hug him nonstop. I’m not rushing any part of this!
Lesson two: Having a bonus baby has brought me closer to my oldest child
My daughter, Annabelle, has been a pretty independent child since her baby brother came along when she was two. She had to learn to play on her own while mommy tended to Leo. I don’t feel like I had the time to “baby” her once I had two kids. Since having Colton, Annabelle has become so much more affectionate with me and showed me she needs me more than ever. She wants me to tuck her in at night and sing her songs and she holds my hand so tight to her cheek. It warms my heart! She has been SO helpful with Colty and I truly need her help. So for that, we’ve grown so much closer, and I have an even greater appreciation for my Annie B.
Lesson three: A chance to improve parenting skills
I’m sure we can all think of times we have made mistakes as parents. Maybe we didn’t feed our kid enough vegetables as a toddler and now they refuse to eat them as a big kid. My son Leo is CEO & President of the Picky Eaters Club. Colton will NOT be a picky eater, I will make sure of it!
Lesson four: Losing the baby weight isn’t my top priority
I was determined to lose ALL the baby weight before reaching the nine month postpartum mark after my first two, which I documented here and here. I tracked every point/bite in the Weight Watchers app until I got back to “myself” again.
But this time around my focus has been a little different. I started working out at Orangetheory Fitness at the six week postpartum mark, and set out to lose the 38 pounds I’d gained with Colton. The thing is; I’ve realized that being myself again isn’t a number on the scale. At 10 months postpartum I still have 12 stubborn pounds to go, but I haven’t been obsessed with it. I love to eat, so I work out hard 3-4 days a week to balance that out. A 2020 goal of mine is to lose the last of the weight by my 40th birthday. Hey, I want to look my best when I turn 40! But I’ve enjoyed this time just being with family, eating comfort foods when I want, and giving myself grace on the whole weight loss thing.
A 10 month baby update
I cannot believe Colton is 10 months old. I’m probably going to have a slight meltdown when he turns one. I want freeze him as a baby forever, he’s truly the sweetest, easiest baby ever. I didn’t think I could handle a challenging third baby/toddler. Thankfully, Colton is so chill. His brother and sister are constantly entertaining him. He’s had to learn to wait his turn when he needs something, too. Mama busy with three kids! I can’t be everywhere at once. But this has been a great lesson for him. Patience is a virtue!
Introducing food
Our pediatrician said to hold off on feeding him table food until about nine months. So we did purees from about 6-9 months. He now has 6 teeth and is loving eating real food. He’s clearly a meat man, because he loves chicken, sausage, pork, turkey meat… he even likes shrimp!! I never offered seafood to my big kids as a baby! I have the best non-slip silicone place mat/plate that adheres to table surfaces. So he can’t get mad and throw his plate on the floor like babies tend to do! This Why You Peanut Butter & Jealous silicone bib is not only funny, but the best bib! It catches all the food.
Colton has refused a bottle from day, ugh! That has made date nights and girl’s nights fewer and far between because I’ve feared leaving him with someone knowing he’s not good with a bottle. I decided to skip the bottle and go right to a sippy cup last month and found this straw sippy that he loves. He can hold the sippy upside down while being rocked and the liquid still comes out, unlike traditional straw sippies. Still can’t believe he’s able to drink from a straw, because these rubber straw sippys can take work to get the liquid out. I didn’t introduce a straw sippy to my big kids until they were well into their toddler days.
Skip crawling, straight to walking!
I haven’t been quick to rush baby milestones, so Colton didn’t really roll over on his own until about 6 months. And little man still isn’t crawling in the true sense. If he wants to move around he sort of body surfs and shimmies about. But it’s still easy to sit him down and leave the room and come back to him in generally the same place.
Just like how he skipped over the bottle and went straight to a sippy, he’s probably going to walk soon and just skip over crawling. He loves walking along the couch edges and he’s moving from furniture to end tables and his activity center if it’s within reach. So my glass of wine, water, or Diet Pepsi is never safe on the end table with Colton around. He’s coming for it for sure! My guess is he’ll be taking his first steps by the time he’s 11 months.
I could go on and on, but I recognize I’m probably way more excited to share every detail than you are to read about it, lol, so I’ll stop there. To sum it all up, I’m incredibly grateful for this surprise third round of motherhood. I love it more than I thought possible and can’t wait to see how our family grows together with our new edition in the future. Having a bonus baby when you’re older and wiser is actually pretty cool, despite my initial fears. If you’re wondering if you’ve got one more left in ya (ha) and your family doesn’t quite feel complete, I say go for it! You will never regret your decision! 😉
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