9 Months Later...

My daughter turned 9 months old yesterday. This feels like a milestone in alot of ways. She is growing at such a rate now, she is virtually crawling and the sounds and noises she makes are seeming more adult by the day.

It has caused me to sit back and reflect a little on what has been the most wonderful, and challenging time of my life.

It seems like a life time ago that I sat watching two little pink lines appear on a home pregnancy test. That moment changed my life. And I knew it. No longer was I just myself...I was now responsible in every way for another separate, unique individual. That knowledge has a very sobering effect on a person.

And certainly since my daughter was born at 6 minutes to 6 on September the 2nd 2009, that sobering responsibility has loomed ever larger in my mind.

I have had to discipline myself in so many ways and forget so much of what I used to consider essential to a happy life. Sleep for one! I haven't had an un-interrupted night's sleep in nearly a year! Nor do I have the kind of 'me' time that I used to. My daughter may be able to sit up, feed herself and reach out for her favourite toy, but it is still me that must place her on her playmat, cook her meals and get her toys out of their box. No mother needs to be reminded that mothering is a 24 hour, round the clock job. That her practical, physical needs will lessen over time I have no doubt. But I can never see a time when I will feel any less responsible for her; for her happiness, her safety and her character.

I am incredibly grateful for the enormous blessing that is a child. She has changed my life in every way for the better and I am a wiser and hopefully less selfish woman for having her for my daughter.

So Happy 9 Month Birthday Martha!

With Love, From Mummy xxx