Anni has friends & Mama steals some too!

I have been babysitting a few days every week to earn some extra money and at first I was worried about Anni adjusting. I knew it would be a good cure, or at least help her “only child” mentality (i.e. “I get everything I want when I want it cuz I am the only one”). The first few days were rough. She would scream if I even touched the other child which as you can imagine it is a bit hard to care for a baby without touching him or her. I would even try to occupy her or distract her but no luck, she has me down, she knows my every move like a little CIA agent. She would start to get agitated if I even looked like I might help the other baby. I was thinking about this today because Anni is totally past this and now loves when the other babies come over. I do not even remember when this happened but I am grateful. I asked Anni this morning, “do you want your friend Zella to come and play?” and she replied “yeah!” and nodded her head and went to the front door like Zella was coming right now. How cute! Yesterday Jonah came over and played and she had a blast chasing him around the house. Today Zella came and they snuggled and read together and fed each other food off their respective lunch trays. It is awesome how she has adjusted and I feel good about the lessons she is learning: that Mama cannot only help her and sometimes she needs to wait, that we need to share, that playing music and dancing is always more fun when accompanied by friends. I have also learned a few things about myself from this experience. I can handle cleaning up after two kids (I said I CAN, not that I like to), there is a HUGE difference between boys and girls, Anni can adjust and handle new and different situations, she also is sweet and caring with her friends (of course, she has her moments of MINE! but overall), I am resourceful and can find ways to make extra money while still being at home with Anni. I feel a great sense of responsibility that others would entrust their precious kids to me and I also enjoy talking with other moms and hearing their challenges and joys. The other moms are great and so flexible and giving. I am inspired by their ways of mothering and I feel like I am richly blessed by sharing with them. Zella’s mom has inspired me to be more green and think through living out what I say I believe about caring for the world God has created and Jonah’s mom is very in touch with who she is and allowing herself the freedom to express that. I can learn a ton from both of them! Zella’s mom Manda researched and wrote an article about birth that is very eye opening as well. Motherhood is this weird, bizarre, wonderful thing that pretty much levels the field in many ways. No matter how smart you are, how much experience you have we are all new at this gig and all desperately want to do what is best for our child(ren) and our family. Discovering what that is is a vulnerable path but I am glad to share it with other women I know, successes and failures, challenges and joys, tears and laughter.