I admit

There's something indescribable about having a warm bundle of  baby snuggled up on your chest. That sweet baby smell, and soft little whistley coo's while baby is sleeping. I just really think it's quite addicting.

In the kitchen this afternoon, while I subconsciously bounced Owen to sleep in my sling, I stood thinking about my first encounter with a "how to sling" chapter in a "how to" baby book.
It was March or April (I can't be too sure) of 2009, and our little William Riley was just a tiny little thing. I had been "kangaroo caring" for him skin-to-skin as early as the hospital days...but this super small baby was just taking his sweet time growing. A mom (and countless other family members) can get quite worked up and worried about a baby that doesn't want to grow, but I remember sitting on our tan leather sectional in the living room of our town home ENGULFED in a book my mother had let me "borrow".

I had read the What to Expect's and the Babywise's and the Your Pregnancy Week by Week's gleaning a little something from each of them, but as I read each word of this rather wordy but super informative book my mom let me "borrow", I learned that I felt comfortable with attachment parenting. Ok, so maybe there are few details of the attachment lifestyle that we don't necessarily stick to every single time, like when we carry a happily sleeping newborn into a restaurant in the car seat. Or when a baby in our home might get placed in a bouncy seat to get some Vitamin D by the window. But you can rest assured, the majority of the time, if I can help it, that baby (especially in the early months), will be happily slung on it's mommy. Besides, who wants a crying baby in the other room, while they're chasing a two and four year old through the house anyway?! :) Baby's happy. Mommy's happy. Siblings get attention from Mommy. It's a win-win.
So as I delved in deeper to that "borrowed' book, I learned about how God certainly made the amazing mother-baby bond. And it all just made sense. Mommy can regulate baby's heart rate if they sleep close in proximity-baby can actually start "thriving" when kept skin to skin (we saw Will progress immediately from this). How phenomenal. I read about a mother's milk supply being boosted or a baby being smarter from babywearing or a how to get your pre-pregnancy body back, pumping when necessary (which it was for Will), how to keep up with milestones (and when to worry), how to feed your toddlers healthier food options, how to treat a booboo or childhood illnesses...and on and on. THIS IS GOOD STUFF PEOPLE.
I realize you don't just get your "mommyhood" from a book, or other's advice, for that matter. Experience usually brings a lot of knowledge (and three kids 4 and under brings ALOT of experiences! LOL!). I also believe so many moms have a variety of parenting and mothering styles that work for them. You've gott'a be you. But everybody likes to have a "go-to" book every now and then, and this was mine.
So thanks Mom, for lending me that "borrowed" book that remains on my bedside table four years later!