Mama's Girl

Having a newborn is a new experience. I have been staying home with my young daughter, and I am her primary caregiver 24 hours around the clock. I wouldn't have it any other way. Choosing to exclusively breastfeed, Charlotte and I have found ourselves attached at the breast every one to three hours.

Before having a child and taking on the greatest responsibility of my life, I imagined that my baby's father would be able to provide me with relief by helping with the baby when he comes home from his responsibilities late at night, however that is not possible yet. Despite Josh's greatest efforts, our baby prefers to be rocked while cuddled up to her food source (that's me!) anytime after 7 p.m. It's safe to say that as of right now she is a mama's girl.

Now that Charlotte is five weeks old and has established a predictable eating and sleeping schedule, I have decided to start taking a little time away from my new best friend. I know that in the mornings she is never fussy and typically requires nothing more than a feeding and cuddles to go back to sleep when she wakes between 1 and 9 in the morning. The last couple mornings I nurse Charlotte when she wakes up at her 5 a.m. feeding, and then I softly place her to sleep. Where do I head out for the next hour or so? The gym.

Yeah, so I walk the dogs during the day with the baby, and I have also more at-home DVDs and work out tools than is necessary. Maybe it would be better to save money every month when I can get a perfectly good workout for less, but the truth is . . . I love going to the gym. Not only is it a great excuse for me to get away from being a mom for an hour every day, but there's no better motivator to get my pre-baby body back than by ensuring doing so is my shot at "me time."

I will admit however that throughout my entire workout I'm pushing myself hard so I can get home to the little girl that I miss so much. I also worry constantly that she has woken up and is refusing a bottle because she wants the real thing. Thankfully, I'm always happy to return home to see that she is still asleep where I left her. I guess I really do know when she is guaranteed to sleep. That must be why I leave during the hours that I do. Either way, the day that she does decide to wake up and mom is not there to nurse her back to sleep, I know her sweet and compassionate dad will do just as an amazing of a job with a warm bottle of breast milk and a beard. Maybe only then she'll get her chance to see how great it is to be daddy's girl too!