Mama Speaks

I want another baby someday, but I'm afraid. Truly.  I so very much want to have another sweet little one, another pregnancy (for all its ups and downs), and I want A to be a big sister. But I'm afraid.  I am afraid of those moments when I feel like I've gone "'round the bend" as Alice would say (we've been watching the Tim Burton version daily, sometimes more than once).  The things I've been through paralyze me with fear of having another--the stresses, the worries and sleeplessness, the anxiety and classic post-partum OCD thoughts... Those things made me feel, and still do at times, like a failure of a mother. But you know what?  I am a good mom.  I might even venture out there to say I'm a great mom.  There are certainly things I'd do differently and areas I still want to work on presently, but I feel like someday, when Ayes is all grown up, she will look back and know I did the best I could for her.  I hope that she will feel tha...

1. I believe that there is no such thing as "spoiling" a child when it comes to affection.  Some people think that if you hold a baby too much, you're "spoiling" them.  "Don't hold that baby too much or else they will expect it all the time."  I'm not saying moms and dads cannot take a break when it is needed, but so many parents' attitudes come across as though their own child is inconveniencing them with needing to be held.  Children who form a solid attachment with parent(s) are often the most independent, well rounded children I know.  I will never, ever subscribe to the idea that by holding, snuggling, kissing, or sleeping next to my child is "spoiling" them.  It isn't.  Attachment parenting has many positive benefits for both parents and children.  There is science behind it-chemistry and biology that supports this.  Attachment parenting isn't new and it isn't indulgent .  Attachment parenting IS responding to y...