9 things my 9 month old taught me

Guess who's a big boy today? Yes, none other than that wee little teeny weeny baby boy I popped out! It's been 270 whole days since the magical moment has passed by. Woke up this morning to my little squish doing some groovy moves on his baby mattress and it was almost like he knew it was his three quarters birthday today. That't the thing with babies right? They kinda sense things, somehow. Never fails to amaze me!

Anyhow, switching to my favorite part of writing posts (bullet points, ha, no brownie points there!) to do justice to the title of the post. So, here goes:

• The whole "newborn" phase sprints by at the pace of a whirlwind.  

I'm so glad I decided to get his newborn shoot done at 2 weeks even though back then each day I literally woke up like a zombie (yes, sleep deprivation is for real!) Though it was a real pain-in-the-ass with the baby crying each time his outfit was changed and the photographer having to wait for what seemed like forever after every shot while the baby was being calmed/fed/tucked to sleep etc. Hats off to these new born photographers, patience is indeed a virtue to be imbibed from them

• "Baby cribs" are extremely overrated 

Okay, this may be very subjective and I'm not sure if you guys agree with me. The "crib" is one item which features at the top of most pre-baby-arrival shopping lists.  But honestly, my baby might have slept in the crib for not more than 9 nights in the last 9 months. Baby N is more interested in pulling the crab hangings down and hurling it at anyone in his vicinity (oh yes, the naughtiness streak is thicker than what I expected!)

• Spotting a baby room outdoors makes you feel like a famished man sighting mutton mandi

Our trips to the shopping mall were less about shopping and eating and more about us hunting for a baby room and me racing towards it to either feed the baby or change his diaper. Two weeks of doing this and I completely gave up stepping outdoors, much to Mr. V's displeasure. Must be why I never  cringed when I heard the word "lockdown"  or "quarantine". " I'm already an expert, you see!

• Pregnancy is spoken of enough and more. But what about postpartum?

Pregnancy is a time when you get all the pampering and TLC left, right and center. Cut to postpartum, the little nugget hogs all the limelight. There would be those initial days when you feel like your existence has been dwindled to that of a milkmaker. Hundreds of comments, advice, judgments and what not. In the midst of it all you stare at the bawling glory, completely bummed out and wonder what on earth are you supposed to do? Trust me, this feeling is completely normal. And there comes a day you rise out of all the inhibitions holding you back. The most important lesson postpartum has taught me is to not be bothered by what others say. Do what you think is right for yourself and the baby. A huuuuuge thanks to my round-the-clock support system (u guys are the besttt ever!) who raised me up every time I fumbled. 

• Diaper change to the rescue!

 I always thought a crying baby could be soothed by offering milk. Baby N opened my eyes! He brings the house down each time he pees. His signal works faster than the blue/yellow indicator on the diaper, honestly! I remember the time I traveled with him for the first time by air, super pleased with myself for booking the midnight flight. I assumed he would be asleep for a major part of the journey and my assumption was right till his diaper got soiled. Please don't ask me what happened after that but let's just say that the passengers would have remembered him for a long, long time post the journey. 

• Gliders are your life savers, maternity gowns are your best friends

These two things - I cannot stress enough how much I was dependent on these. Gliders, true to their name, in fact helped me glide through the initial nursing phase. The pain, the stitches and all hurt like anything for a long time and this nursing chair by Hauck was my savior. Super glad I invested in this! And maternity gowns especially the vertical zip down types were the ones I practically lived in for more than 90 days postpartum. All thanks to some amazing options provided to me by my lovely pal through her clothing venture Sera - For your Tiny Miracle. 

• As a mom, you kinda end up doing all those things you'd promised yourself you wouldn't

Frankly speaking when I was younger I always found it silly that moms talk to babies as a third person. "Come to Mumma", "Mumma loves you", "Mumma will do it for you" all sounded downright ridiculous to me till Baby N happened. Strangely enough, now I cannot even think of speaking a sentence to him without this reference. 

PS Come to think of it, my mom never made that reference while talking to the kid Mahi. Maybe she also found it silly? Should ask her! *makes a mental note*

• "Colic" - the word I use ten thousand times a day

This was one thing I really wished someone had told me before having a baby.  All my life colic was just some word  that existed in some arbitrary corner of the thesaurus that was linked to colon or large intestine. Two weeks into life, Baby N started getting colicky and would go red in the face when the colic pain kicks in. The high pitched shrieking used to scare the crap out of me in the early days and give me panic attacks. According to mid wive's tales it gets better once they start crawling, moving about and stuff and yes, to a small extent it did. Also, tummy time helped!

• Babies know best!

Okay so this is about the first time I had to feed Baby N and I was bewildered as fish. I held him in my arms and had no clue how to get him latching. On bringing him closer and trying my best to help him, I noticed that he looked up at me with a stern expression and started shaking his head like an experienced interview panelist dismissing a candidate's daft remark. While I stared at him at utter horror on how a 1 day old baby can disapprove of his mother's antics, the little guy's mouth worked out things on his own!

So, I've just listed 9 things down here because he's 9 months and I wanted the title to sound fancy and all that. But honestly, there are thousands of lessons I've learnt from this little wonder of a boy! Will be back to share more of these at a later point.

Toodles for now! And stay safe, y'all!