A Few of My Favorite Things...

No this post will not be about the time I sang "My Favorite Things" when auditioning for "Guys and Dolls" back in High School. Mostly because I can't sing and I don't know what I was thinking when I auditioned for a musical in the first place!!

Instead this post is in honor of the one month anniversary of my beautiful son's birth. So to celebrate his first 30 days on this earth I have put together a list of my 30 favorite moments since becoming a mother.

• Getting to be in the delivery room with Angie, DH, my mom, my MIL and lots more family for the miraculous event of River's birth.
• Getting to help deliver River and thus have my wish granted to be the first person to hold my son.

• Getting to see River for the first time. My first thought was that we had picked the perfect name for him. He was so beautiful and full of life that only the name River could fit him. He was so alert and peaceful when he was first born. He just came out perfect!

• Getting to nurse him when he was only one hour old. I'm not going to lie... it hurt a lot, but it was worth every "Ouch!" moment and continues to be!
• Getting to look at him. He is so gorgeous! There are times when DH and I spend long periods of time just simply looking at him and talking about how handsome he is.

• Getting to dress him in cute baby clothes. He is so cute as it is... throw a cute little monkey onesie on him and he is to die for!
• Watching him fall asleep because he makes the cutest little faces. He smiles, sticks out his tongue, and blows bubbles.
• Watching when he is awake and alert. His eyes are so big and vibrant and again he smiles, sticks out his tongue, and blows bubbles.

• Listening to the little cooing noises he makes. Even his cry is cute!
• Watching as he crosses his eyes while working hard to push out a poop. It shows true dedication :)
• When I first realized that I could express milk. Not like a mother with all of the postpartum hormones, but more than I had expected! My guess is he is getting 1-2 tablespoons per feeding. Fingers crossed that it will eventually be more!
• When he started to get more fussy and I was able to find the exact positions that he liked to be in to help him feel better.

• Seeing how much DH loves him and what a wonderful father DH is to him. My love grew so much stronger for DH in a way I never realized was possible.

• Seeing how much everyone in my family loves him even though he is not biologically theirs. From my mom taking advantage of every excuse she can think of (even the smallest excuse like helping me hold him) to come up and see River. To my niece saying one morning when she thought she was too tired to go to school, "No, I can do this because I can get strength from my cousin River." As one of my friends on the adoption discussion board once said, DNA is so overrated :)

• Squishing into our tub with DH and River to give River his first bath. Can't say that this was one of River's favorite moments, though. He cried the entire time.
• Watching DH give River the first bath that he actually enjoyed. DH was so happy and we got some amazingly adorable pictures!

• Whenever I dance around with River when he is fussy to Flogging Molly, 50 cent, and Elton John. I think it is safe to say that this is one of River's favorite moments, too, because he is almost always instantly calmed.
• When I realized that River likes the band Flogging Molly because all I had to do was put in their new CD and he was instantly soothed. Fans of punk music, I highly recommend their new album. How can you not love Irish punk music? River does!
• Whenever I get to lay down on my back and have River lay on my stomach. We take naps together like this often during the day.

• When River first started looking at me whenever I held him or fed him. He knows I'm his mom!
• When I took River into work one day and while my coworkers were holding him he kept on looking at me because he recognized me.
• The fact that my fear of not feeling like his mom or having him not recognize me as his mom did not come true. As a matter of fact it has been quite the opposite!
• Whenever I receive text messages from Angie about River. She has sent me some of the most beautiful text messages and they have ment so much to me. She lives up to the nick name of Angie because she is truly angelic!
• Rocking River in the glider and singing lullabys to him to help him go to sleep. Even though I'm not that great of a singer (I didn't get a part in Guys and Dolls or any musicals in High School) but he always falls asleep so it must not be too terrible!
• Whenever I get to take him out with me on my errands. After years of wishing, hoping and, dreaming of it I am finally one of THOSE people... a parent with a car seat and a little monkey mirror in my car so I can make sure he is okay while we are driving.
• Getting together with my sister and my niece Tessa who is 3 weeks older than River. He is so lucky to have a cousin so close in age. They will have so much fun together.

• Whenever I am making dinner with my precious angel in his swing sleeping sweetly. It is times like this that I feel like such a mom. And though as a young feminist I thought this would be like a death sentence, as a (hopefully) more mature adult I realize it is the best job in the world.
• All of the support and love we have received from family, friends, coworkers and even strangers. Knowing that we are in their thoughts and prayers is so wonderful.
• Getting our first picture taken as a family all wearing our Slayer shirts. DH is from Great Falls, MT where butt rock is still in style and only recently did the mullet go out of fashion. So needless to say, heavy metal music runs through his veins.

• When at two weeks old I watched River roll over from his stomach to his side and then onto his back. I was simplly in awe of how quickly he learned to do that. He's got some buff arms already! He also loves to push with his legs and has since he was less than 24 hours old. What feats of strength, eh?

So there is my list. At first I thought 30 items would be plenty to list all of my favorite moments, but it turns out it is far too few! I have enjoyed being a mother so much these past 30 days. I'll be honest in saying that late nights with little to no sleep are difficult, and I have cried, but it is definitely worth it otherwise the world population wouldn't be over 6 billion strong, right? I can't wait to see what the next 30 days will bring and I look forward to raising this perfect little soul, hearing his first words, watching him take his first step, helping him with his homework and all of the rest of the fun stuff. Along with all of the tough stuff, too, because that is when he gets to teach me.