We are truly blessed

Before Annabella was born, Jason and I would sit on our back porch and just smile and think about how much we loved our lives. We had everything we wanted and needed: good health, a fulfilling marriage to someone we love, good family, good jobs, and a nice place to live, and the exciting prospect of a baby to come. Not that life was perfect, but it was pretty darn good.

I remember being worried about how a baby would change all that. Would we still be happy post-baby?

To say Annabella changed our lives completely would be an understatement. From the time I wake up to the time I fall asleep, thoughts of her aren't far away. Taking care of her is a full-time job plus some, and almost everything I do is impacted by her.

Here's a simple example of one of the changes. My pre-Annabella morning routine:

• Set the alarm clock for 1 hour before I intend to get up.
• Hit the snooze button a billion or so times and then finally drag myself out of bed.
• Run and jump in the shower.
• Brush my teeth and hair, put deodorant on, throw clothes on, run out the door.
• Time from when my feet hit the floor to when I'm in my car ~30 minutes.

My with-Annabella morning routine:

• Alarm clock? Why would I need one of those?
• Wake up because Annabella is starting to wake up, meaning the baby monitor is picking up her grunts and sighs and clicking on.
• Lie in bed awake for a few minutes to see if she'll go back to sleep. (Often times she will and I'll get another hour of sleep.)
• At the first sign of a real cry, go flying out of bed and up the stairs to grab her.
• Take her downstairs to feed her.
  
• Get the breast-pump stuff ready. Put Annabella beside me and pump. (She's normally slept long enough now that I'll be engorged by the time she gets up; so I have to pump even though I've fed her.)
• Label the milk with the date and put it in the fridge.
• Make sure all of the bottles are ready and properly labeled for daycare.
• Change Annabella's diaper.
  
• Empty the dishwasher so the bottles and pump parts will be dry for later today. Put the newly used pump stuff in the dishwasher.
• If it's early enough, spend a few minutes trying to get Annabella to go back to sleep. This will most likely fail.
  
• Put Annabella in her bouncy seat outside the shower. Turn on the bouncy part and the music part.
• Hop in the shower. Sing the songs along with the music to entertain Annabella. Hop out midshower to bounce the seat more than the bouncy mechanism will do and to give her the paci. Try not to drip on her. Hop back in the shower and try to get all the soap off ASAP.
• Get out of the shower and sing whatever I can to entertain her. Run around during calm times and try to brush my teeth, brush my hair, put deodorant on, etc. Run back over periodically to give her Paci again and to bounce seat some more. Beg for just 3 more minutes.
• Throw clothes on. Try to remember to check for spit up stains on my pants, but don't really care enough to make this a priority.
• Grab Annabella. Change her clothes if they're not appropriate for the car-ride. Maybe rechange her diaper.
• Pack Annabella's bag, the breast-pump, the breast-pump parts, her bottles, and my purse.
• Put Annabella in the car seat.
  
• Run everything but Annabella out to the car.
• Run Annabella out to the car. Adjust her car seat appropriately, and make sure the sun visor is in proper position.
• Finally get in the car.
• Time from when my feet hit the floor to when I'm in my car ~2.5 hours.

But while life is so much more hectic and activity filled than it once was, it's also so much more fulfilling. And while I imagine that I'd be much less sleep deprived if I didn't have a baby, I can't imagine life without my precious girl.

And this past weekend Jason and I sat back and marveled once again about how good life really is.