Newborn Holiday Season

There are a vast amount of topics I wish I could elaborate, story tell, and vent about on here knowing that the audience I’m reaching are fellow moms, new, experienced, and shoutout to those who have recently become grandparents (@ my Mom and friends). There’s things like sleep training, baby blowouts, newfound baby voices, postpartum hair loss, expensive Mom gear, hormone EFFING shifts, the Mom community, and so so so many others. It’s why I started blogging about mommy stuff. There are so many topics that are not frequently talked about and I’m here to be realistic about them, have a conversation around them, and share knowledge and personal experience, hoping to reach other Moms in telling them that they aren’t going through this alone. I guess not only that but this is for everyone who isn’t a Mom and wants to know what it’s like or chooses to find out what it’s like to be in these shoes, thanks for being here and sharing this experience with us (me) LOL. And obviously I’m trying to keep these all fun, light, and short because Lord knows your baby ain’t staying settled or asleep for long and I know you probably have errands and chores to get to too.

Now that I’m done babbling, let’s get to today’s topic. The newborn holiday season. If you’re like me and your very first scrumptious sack of love was born in the fall season, we gotta stick together! First off, the newborn trenches are not for the faint of heart. It’s not only navigating taking care of a brand new baby, it’s brain fog, trying to care for yourself, your seemingly new relationship with your husband and family, and all on a broken 3 hours of sleep. But so many Moms have done it before, so you tell yourself suck it up and deal, complainer! (Which makes your mental health even further deteriorate, lmao) Sorry, I digress. And this is one aspect of it, but I’m talking about the added pressure of the holiday season.

With a new baby, of course you have to do the first family Christmas card, the first Christmas ornaments, Santa’s gifts, and spoil the living bajeezus out of your newborn right? All the while, he is not even gonna remember any of it. He’ll grow out of the cute Christmas outfit lined with smiling gingerbread men you buy for him that he wears one time for one picture and goes straight into the “doesn’t fit” pile of onesies after he has a massive blowout 6 minutes into the shoot. You splurge and buy wrapping paper with his face on it to wrap your families’ gifts in. You decorate your house up the yang, with santas and nutcrackers and teddy bears galore and your baby can’t even see past his own hand, much less even know that he has a hand. Newborn holiday pressure, that’s how it feels right? But remember, it’s pressure we put on ourselves to be the best Mom. The Mom who has it all together and gives their baby all these things, for the memories, for the family. So we can look back on the first Christmas and pinpoint the tradition we created. But don’t forget about the magic of it all either. Sis, I promise you’re already the best Mom. You don’t actually have to do all those things, and your family and friends understand. No one is gonna call you out for sending your Christmas card out in February (just write Happy Holidays). Take a beat. I promise it’s gonna be okay.

As we turned the lights on for the Christmas tree we had decorated with all our new baby ornaments, Michael Buble playing in the background, and the smell of pine trees from the spray we bought at Marshall’s, I pivot to look at my baby in his bouncer. His gummy smile radiating far wider than any light bulb on the tree ever will and warming my heart to eventually have my body overflow with abundant joy, I realize it’s for me to enjoy too. Don’t forget that the holiday newborn pressures yes, come with stress and take up a ton of your time, but can be enjoyed fully with just a simple smile and a warm feeling. Don’t stress mama, your baby loves you no matter what. You don’t have to go overboard, you don’t have to do anything, you’re just fluffing up the relationship you already have but sprinkling some magic into it. Don’t forget to enjoy the holidays too.

Sistah Ceej loves you!