It’s the first birthday of our daughter. I would like to congratulate my husband and I and all other first time cowgirl parents for navigating thru the critics, the life lessons, the disagreements, and the general public in route to a successful first year. You can learn a lot about yourself when looking out for what’s best for your child. You start to rethink places you go, company you keep, and things you spend money on.
When I first announced I was pregnant there were a lot of people who just assumed I would stop riding horses for a living. Obviously you can’t do what you do for a living. There were moments I wondered if they were right, mostly in the beginning when my hormones were settling, but I thought of friends PJ Burger and Janae Massey both who are raising happy outgoing polite little girls who are always smiling when I see then and I pushed on. You cannot discredit the supportive husbands and fathers in these situations allowing us to do things as a family. A lesson I wanted her to learn as early as possible is as much as we include her in pretty much everything we do, she has to learn to roll with the flow and that there are times it’s simply not about her. Thankfully we are very blessed with a good baby who considers the sounds of a diesel a lullaby, loves good horses, and greets just about everyone she meets with a smile. This is why I’m considering stopping with her because the next one would probably discredit EVERYTHING I type here.
Among other things I’ve learned in this first year is you can wrap a baby head to toe in pink but if you don’t have a bow on her head everyone is going to call her a him. At first it rankled me but I’ve come to the conclusion people comment just to comment and they really don’t care or pay any real attention to your child they’re just attempting to be polite. I’m also astounded by the people who I’ve gotten to know after joining the ranks of mommy hood. Some I thought would never like kids stop to love on her every time they see her while others as much as expected slide past with frightened looks like she’s going to eat them, which is highly entertaining and it makes me want to chase them with her and go Booogty Booogty Booogty for the fun of it. I have one friend who isn’t a kid fan who will actually get within 10 feet of her. I give her hell telling her someday she’s actually going to hold her.
You become your child’s mommy or daddy, something I’ve been ok with since she was just a thought in our minds. My favorite moment at a rodeo this year was hearing announcer Monty Stueve at the Paris Texas Rodeo say “Run Momma Run” as I was headed home from the third barrel. Moms talking about loosing their identity on blogs all over the internet but I feel like she is a part of our identity, I know who I am so I don’t mind that association at all. I may have gained 10 pounds but I didn’t loose myself when I shed most of it.
I can honestly say this has hands down been the best year of my life. I’ve had a very interesting life even before I met my husband and someday when I’m rich I’ll write a self-incriminating auto biography and sell it for millions, if youre reading this and you can think of a moment you might be in this, and you don’t want to be I’m taking sealed bids to leave you out of it. Till then I cannot wait for the next 18-20 years. I’m looking forward to Pre school, joining the junior rodeo rat race, having her decide she wants to do something else, her graduating from high school with honors and a full ride to the college of her choice, graduating law school 3 years early and buying her momma an Aston Martin! Or whatever makes her happy.
thismommasacowgirl 