opinions

I'm a very opinionated person. When I know what I want, I'm not one to change my mind, and I almost always go with my gut instinct when it comes to decision making. I've been like for as long as I can remember. I don't hang around in a store for long, trying to decide whether I want to buy something or not. I simply make the decision or leave. I only tried on about 5 or 6 wedding dresses because I knew what I wanted as soon as it was on. And when it comes to parenting, I'm no different.

While I appreciate that everyone has different parenting styles, I don't really care to know about them in great depth. I enjoy talking with my mum, sister-in-law, and girlfriends who are parents, but beyond that, I'm not interested in what everyone else has to say. That may sound harsh, but there are just so many opinions out there, that you have to draw the line somewhere! Cal and I just parent the way our instincts tell us to, and I'm proud of that.

When I was pregnant with Lady M, about to be a first-time mum, every other mother out there had an opinion and wanted to tell me how to parent, how to birth, how to do everything. Horror stories about deliveries abounded, and were certainly never asked for! People wanted to tell you what to buy and what not to buy, how to deal with sleep, eating, nursing, and anything else they could think of. And more than anything, people seemed to find it very important to tell you "oh, you're going to be so tired!".

Yes, though I hadn't had a child yet, I assumed being tired was part of the game. I think the piece of 'advice' that bothered me most was when people would say "get your sleep now!". Well, how the hell is that going to help me three weeks from now, after I deliver a child and have to start raising it?! So, since becoming a parent, and understanding the sleepless nights in a different way, I have made it a priority never to suggest that a parent-to-be 'get their sleep now'.

However, the one thing I found many parents telling me in my pre-child days was 'they'll grow up so fast'. Well, that just may be the one thing I have repeated.

In less than a week, Lady A will be 6 months old, and Lady M will be celebrating her 3rd birthday, and I really keep questioning 'where has the time gone?'. Three years have zipped by in the blink of an eye, and my little Lady M has gone from infant to toddler, and is somehow now a little girl, who has interesting conversations with me on a daily basis. She has strong opinions (not sure where she gets that!), and a never-ending interest in everything around her.

My little Lady A has gone from helpless infant, to a sweet little baby who reacts to everything, smiles every time she hears her big sister's name, has found her voice, and is on the verge of crawling. So, in fact, they do grow up so fast.

I promise I'll never hear myself telling a parent-to-be to get their sleep, or offering unsolicited details about child delivery that people simply don't need to know. I promise not to be one of those more experienced parents who try to tell the newbie horror stories to scare them before their wee one arrives, or how they should sleep train, feed or nurse their child. However, you may just hear me saying that it all goes by in a flash, because three years have never passed so quickly in my life, until now.