Where Has My Baby Gone?

Today is the 1st July.

Exactly 1 year ago today was the first day of my maternity leave from work.

I spent most of July at home: I was so massive by that point of the pregnancy that walking anywhere was a mission, I could barely fit behind the steering wheel in my car to drive anywhere, and my parents spent a lot of time with me while The Hubby was at work, to make sure I was OK.

Everyone was just waiting for me to go into labour! The words "Just in case" seemed to follow every sentance! My best friend came up to stay for a week and being a trained Paramedic she brought with her a maternity kit and paed equipment "Just in case" along with inco pads to protect my mattress "Just in case" and added the phone number of the local hospital and my midwife into her phone. The weather was hot, sticky and muggy and I spent most of my days sleeping, getting in and out of the shower, and eating ice pops. I practically lived in a volumous thin white cotton shirt which I wore around the house with only my pants and my flip flops, and if I ventured out my favourite choice was a huge black cotton sundress.

By the time the end of July came round, I was ready for the baby to be born. I loved every moment of my pregnancy, and was lucky to have had a wonderful experiance and no sickness or pain like so many women, but by the end of July the nursery was ready, the hot weather was getting unbearable and I was bored just lounging about at home as everyone else was at work throughout the week and I had nothing to do, nobody to see!

The Boy was born in the first week of August. It turned out to be a pretty traumatic delivery in the end (for another post I think!) but as I cradled my newborn baby boy in my arms, weighing 6lbs 10.5oz, I was overjoyed that he was finally here, and I was his mummy, and he was healthy and beautiful.

Time flashes past so quickly, even more so when you have a baby apparently. Within the blink of an eye he was a week old, then a month, then suddenly six months, and now here I am on 1st July and he is almost 11 months old. He's mobile (crawling like an expert and walking along when he has something to hang on to) He's a world class raspberry blower (a habit he picked up from one of his little friends, and they blow raspberries at one another constantly when they're together!) He loves Waybuloo, Roary the Racing Car, F1, playing with cars, the music from ZingZillas as well as GnR, Iron Maiden, Aerosmith and Dragonforce (like his mummy and daddy he loves his music)

The other week, The Hubby's half sister had her first baby. He weighed in at almost 8lb when born, which seems enormous compared to our Boy's birth weight, but then everyone was surprised he was so slight (and you'd never know it to look at him now, he's tall and broad for his age, looking more like a 13 or 14 monther than nearly 11!) Tomorrow we're going to visit The Nephew for the first time, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Except for one thing: I look at my son now, and I see a little boy. He's not a baby anymore; He's a little boy, with his own personality, a gorgeous grin that melts my heart, he has a cry for when he's stroppy and one for when he's upset, a different one altogether if he's tired and a funny noise he makes when he's happy and content (almost like a cat purring) It makes me feel proud and I'm glad that he can do his own thing a bit more now and doesn't need my attention 24/7, but at the same time, I feel a little bit sad.

Where has my baby gone? It seems like just five minutes ago I was having contractions and the excitement of his impending arrival was upon us; Now I'm only a few weeks away from celebrating his first birthday!