many years ago, i maintained a deadjournal for the express purpose of whining and lamenting lost loves and other things that seem very important as a single, childless, early twentysomething-year-old woman. i slowly stopped blogging while planning my wedding and by the time we came back from our honeymoon, i had no need to whine, so i stopped blogging. that was four years ago.
six and a half months ago, my husband and i had a beautiful baby girl. she was almost six weeks early and we were completely unprepared - not only because of her early arrival but because we had not done nearly enough research on birthing and parenting as we should have. it wasn't until joining the local la leche league and meeting some experienced moms that i realized we had no idea what we were doing. don't get me wrong, we could provide our little one with all of her basic needs but as far as a parenting style or methods or ideas, we were completely blank. people would ask us about discipline and sleep training and we just said "i don't know". i remember after my third or fourth LLL meeting, leaving with annoyance. why all the talk about co-sleeping and baby wearing and ECing? i had never even heard these terms before, surely they were some sort of crunchy ideas that most normal parents did not participate in. my husband said i didn't have to go if i didn't want to. i was pretty sure i would stop attending LLL (for the record, LLL is about breastfeeding only, really - the ideas discussed at my local LLL were those of the participants and not LLL - and i ADORE my LLL group now!).
but, they started to add me as facebook friends. i accepted. i read what they posted, what they shared and what they believed in and it started to make sense. A LOT of sense. i became friends with their friends and all of a sudden and quite by accident, a whole new world opened up to me - the world of attachment parenting.
(this blog will not be 100% about AP. some will be about my daughter. some will be ideas that fall outside the realm of AP but into my realm of parenting like vaccination, healthy eating, naturopathy, etc).
i'm not going to define AP right here, i am hoping it will become evident in what i write and in the links to articles and other blogs that i will share. many of you will disagree with what i write and share and i am okay with that. do i think this is the best way to parent? of course i do! when i believe in something, i stand by my convictions and because of that i will never on this blog say "to each their own". we spend so much time telling each other that everything we do as parents is okay as long as it works for you - and it may be okay - but is it the best you can provide for your baby? that is what i want to explore with this blog. that is what i want to learn as i write this blog. my husband and i are by no means perfect parents, but we strive to be through attachment parenting and i invite you to learn along with us (or teach us!).
parenting, no matter what style you prescribe too, will always be a lifelong journey. this is mine and my husbands. read, share, disagree but please, learn!
