So wow! This blog stuff is hard, haha. I've been wracking my brain on what to write for about 5 days now. I always seem to have this apprehension when it comes to saying anything. So i'm thinking it all boils down to being afraid of being judged. You know that same old highschool way of thinking. Yes i still have that. And i'm only a couple years shy of 30. I'm hoping that with this blog i'll be able to break out of "my shell" as they say, just a little bit more...
So I guess I'll take this opportunity to tell everyone a little bit about myself. I come from a pretty big family. About 9 siblings altogether. I am the oldest, so I was pretty much able to enjoy watching a few of my younger siblings grow up. Even with the ones thats weren't far off in age from me I can remember asking to change their diappies. So needless to say ever since I can remember I wanted to be a mommy. So it's no surprise that I'm now the lucky mommy of two boys and wanting just maybe at least a few more ;)
Well before I get all gushy and off track I'll continue with my train of thought. I come from a family that is very "traditional" so to speak. Everyone is very formula, crib sleeping, crying it out, pro-spanking type of people. So needless to say when I became a parent and started with my ways of parenting I became known as the "family hippy". Evidently that's what you are called when you do everything completely opposite of "the norm". I've learned to hold my tongue quite often when it comes to the labeling but still find myself being challenged by them. I feel like I'm forever defending my ideal of parenting. And it's not people out right disagreeing with something. Here are a few examples: I nursed my first son til he was a little over 19 months and towards the end I was getting comments like, you're stopping when he turns 2 right? or if he's able to walk and talk then maybe he doesn't need to nurse anymore. Or when it comes to co-sleeping, I can't believe you have never used a crib! or don't you think he is old enough and to the point where he should be in his own bed?
Well my response is simply this. My children are only going to be little for so long. I'm not going to push them away from me by over disciplining or make them grow up any faster then they really have to by weaning before they are ready, or shoving them into a crib the first chance I get. I'm going to do whatever I possibly can to help them to grow up to be the most affectionate, caring, intelligent, and respectful people that they can be. And so with that they can pass the same qualities on to their offspring and so on.
