MERRITT

CHICAGO LIFESTYLE NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER: MELISSA MARIE PHOTOGRAPHY: MERRITT

I remember all our things were packed up from the hospital, our newborn in the carseat carrier, and the nurse told us that we were free to go. My husband looked at her like: "Are you serious? That's it? We just go? You aren't going to check all the things? You're assuming us newbies know what to do?" There's a fragility to the newborn stage. I think any parent would tell you, we often feel equally vulnerable. Whether the path to get to that point was easy or whether it was heart-breakingly hard, there's a wonderfully terrifying balance of learning to be not only "okay" with the fragility, but actually cherishing it. I have a love hate relationship with the phrase often said to parents: "It won't always be this way." Perhaps, it's because I dropped my oldest off at Kindergarten today that I'm all too aware that time is a thief. But on our hard days..... Like the really really hard days, it's an absolute gift to know, this will not always be. As ill-equipped as we felt leaving the hospital after our first, and as often times I'm still reminded that we're still are on a learning curve, there won't be a day where they won't know love. That may as well be bubble-wrap on their precious little hearts. So parents....You're doing great.