Who is in first?
It seems like as soon as we found out we were pregnant, so did 1/2 of the world.  It was a blessing to have so many girlfriends to be pregnant with, yet also it has proven to be such a curse.  EVERYTHING seems to be a competition whether intended or not.  (disclaimer- I am speaking about those I know In Real Life- not the bloggy world.  Preggo buddies in the bloggy world are defintely a blessing!) When we were pregnant it was when you first felt movement, whether your gender guess was right (am I the only one that had no idea boy OR girl?!?), how much weight you were gaining, how round your bump was, how much you were still doing, and then of course who was dilating and getting closer and ultimately who had the fastest labor, least complications and the biggest baby. Why, and even how, these things turned into a competition I have NO IDEA but I am guilty of plenty of those thoughts. I was proud that I was able to work until 2 days before birth, that I fully dilated even though I had a c-section and ultimately that I ended up with a beautiful 9lb 12oz baby boy with a full head of black hair!

If only that were the end of the competition but it was merely just the start! Now it is who has the happiest baby, who rolled over first and who is sleeping through the night... I never expected to feel the jealousy that I did when while holding my colicky baby boy after being up every hour the night before and reading the text message saying "my baby girl has slept 10 hours straight the past 3 nights!" I love my son more than anything but that would turn me so green with envy!!!

I then came to realize that our babies are all individuals and are going to be just as different as our pregnancies were. It's not a competition. Where you may brag about your peaceful sleeper while I'm still getting up 4-6 times a night, my baby boy is thriving and growing and meeting some major milestones earlier than anyone could have predicted.  All that is important is that we cherish our babies and this special time with them!