HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY BABY R!!!!!!!

And happy one year of parenthood to us! We did it!!!

All year long we have been counting down to Baby R’s first birthday. We didn’t realize how bittersweet the day would actually be… to be so filled with excitement and joy seeing our baby growing & learning & interacting more with the world but also to be filled with sadness knowing she’ll never be this small ever again.

---

For Baby R’s first birthday, we went to… DISNEYLAND!!!! It was both so very special and also so very stressful. While Baby R won’t remember much of the day, we’ll treasure and remember it in our hearts forever. That said, we’re pretty good with not going back until she’s old enough to understand the concept of waiting in line lol. It did help that we went with Cindy’s best friend and her best friend’s husband and their baby who is around the same age as Baby R. It makes the struggle of waiting in a line with a baby more bearable when someone else is also suffering alongside you.

All the blogs we read about “Disneyland with a Toddler” warned about lowering expectations. You just move at a slower pace with a baby, so you shouldn’t expect to go on every ride. We managed to squeeze out 6 rides plus lunch and a funnel cake before Baby R decided it was time to leave. We got to the park around 9:30am. Our goal was to stay until the fireworks show, but we ended up leaving the park at around 6:30pm. Pre-Baby us would never have left an amusement park before closing! The rides we went on: Snow White, Dumbo, Star Wars Rise of the Resistance, Star Wars Millennium Falcon, It’s a Small World and Pinnochio. It was so much fun watching Baby R experience the rides for the very first time and watching all her expressions. She only went on 4 of the 6 rides and was actually pretty terrified of them all except It’s A Small World.

All in all, we wouldn’t have wanted to spend her first birthday any other way. It was perfect. Just the right amount of specialness and intimacy.

After we left the theme park, we stopped by Cindy’s friend’s home to feed Baby R some dinner and gather ourselves. It was the perfect end for Baby R for her first birthday (and probably her favorite part of the day). She played with their pet dog and all their toys. She was so happy!

---

At 12 months postpartum, Cindy finally feels like herself again!

Her period has returned (bummer!). It actually returned a couple of months ago. She read online that your first postpartum period can be extremely painful and heavy. She was happy to be greeted with her familiar cycle. Also, it’s true what all the blogs say, things feel pretty back to normal down there once your period returns. She had experienced a 2nd-degree tear which was still pretty tender at 9 months postpartum. These days, she hardly even remembers she tore!

Also at 12 months postpartum, she’s back to her pre-pregnancy weight. (yay!) But that doesn’t mean she’s able to fit back into all her pre-pregnancy jeans (bummer!). She’s found that her body has permanently changed in a few areas. Her hips are wider, which she expected. What she didn’t expect was that her rib cage would also be wider, permanently.

And finally, at 12 months postpartum, Cindy is preparing to wean from breastfeeding. We’ve shared before how Cindy’s breastfeeding journey had a rough start. She could not wait to wean at 12 months. But now that the time has come, she’s finding herself not quite ready to let it go. She didn’t realize how difficult and emotional weaning would be. She’s come to really enjoy that special time she gets with Baby R when feeding.

Pregnancy and motherhood truly is a journey. 9 months to carry a baby. 12 months to recover. And, if you plan on having more kids, rinse and repeat!