As you know, having kids is hopefully in the cards for me and my husband. We both love them, and hope to one day be amazing parents. As our friends start to have children, I am reminded more and more that I have absolutely NO idea how one goes about taking care of a baby let alone raising one. People tell me..you’ll figure it out…it will come naturally…but I gotta tell you..it’s scary! I have decided to take matters into my own hands. I vow not to be a complete idiot when I hold my future child. I am just going to learn on other people’s kids!

I have come to realize that I am that girl who needs to sit on the couch in order to feel comfortable holding a baby…picture a 6 year old child. My husband on the other hand won’t even hold a baby until they can hold their head up on their own, but I guess since I can barely stand while holding one I shouldn’t throw stones. Although all of that is true, I have come far in the past few weeks. I have decided that holding a baby can’t be all that scary, and I will most likely not break them…or at least I hope not. I was telling my neighbor “M” how scared and unskilled I was with babies, and so a little while later my doorbell rang and she was holding her little 4 month old niece…she was like “here, hold her” and handed her to me… I pretty much panicked..Exhibit A on how much help I need.

 I went over to a friends house the other weekend to watch football. This particular friend had a baby boy back in June. It’s amazing how much he grows each time I see him. Well “T” had some work to do so I offered to hold the baby while she got some work done. I took this opportunity to get some practice and try some things. I held the baby while standing, I sat with the baby, and I even moved him around on my lap while switching positions. I came to find that little babies are pretty floppy and like to throw their heads around. What’s that about? I work so hard to protect their heads and neck and they have to make it difficult? I think I did pretty good on this go around…I was feeling confident. So confident that when I visited my neighbor who had a little boy in July..I was all like…” let me hold him I’m a pro”…so I held him for a bit…and then passed him to my neighbor so she could put him down in his seat (I couldn’t do that…let’s not get carried away!)

People ask me, how is it that I have so little practice? Well that’s easy! I haven’t dealt with little children since I babysat when I was 14…I am the oldest child so their are no nieces and nephews in my life thus far…and most of my friends just started to get married so they don’t have babies yet. How am I to learn??? My only option is to turn to my few friends and neighbors who do have babies for help. So I will just use their kids to further my education…