Reflections on the past 16 months

Trying to bring my blog back up to date with a very large missing gap has been perplexing me for awhile. At first I was going to abandon it, but decided for a variety of reasons to keep it.

Motherhood - what an amazing journey it has been for me so far. It is unbelievable how quickly you can bond to your child, the depth of the love that you acquire and the instinct that developes to protect them at all costs.

Griffin has filled my life with more love, fun, joy and happiness that I could have ever imagined. I continue to be amazed by looking back at pictures of him from birth through current, all of the ages and stages we went through together, and all of the memories we've made. Every minute, every second with Griffin is a precious gift, and although it isn't always easy, it is the most awesome responsibility and honor I will ever have the opportunity to have.

There are lots of milestones of Griffin's I posted on his blog. Both as an easy way for friends and family to watch him grow from far away, but also as a psuedo baby journal to easily look back on pictures, events and milestones. Now I'm ready to restart my blog so that I can look back and continue to see how I've grown and changed.

Reflecting back over the last 16 months, aside from all of the wonderful things Griffin has learned and accomplished, I am proud of myself, personally, most for one thing the most. Breastfeeding Griffin for an entire year. This may seem like a no-brainer for a lot of people, and not something to pat yourself on the back for, but I'm giving myself a little pat. Pat, pat, pat. I was the one who got up for every night feeding, changing, rocking back to sleep (not that I would have had a choice with Mike gone a good percentage of the time, or wanted one because I LOVED our nights together), I was the one who pumped milk 3 times a day at work, I was the one that gave up alchohol, most over-the-counter medications (sorry - tylenol was necessary at times), nights out with friends. I did it for Griffin, and I did it for me. I believe the bond that we created during countless hours of nursing sessions is something that will resonante forever between us. I'm proud that I made a committment to do it for a full year and stuck through with it.