⇑ Pic By Angela Rea Photography 

No two babies are the same. They are all so unique. I found that out the day Brody was born. Everything about him was different to Noah from the get-go. He loved being swaddled, where as his older brother had despised it and always wanted his hands out of the blanket. Brody hated bathing as a new born, but Noah found it to be a calming and enjoyable experience.

Noah fought with me at every meal time from the moment we started solids until the day he turned two, yet Brody welcomed any food that came his way with open …… mouth. I don’t think I ever had to manoeuvre food into his mouth or play “look at the train…Choo Choo… Open your mouth….” to get him to eat anything. His mouth was just always open looking for food, even old food stuck in the couches. And still to this day he can eat his older brother under the table. And myself.

Noah was quiet and shy as a young toddler and Brodes has always been a little ballsy. A walk-around middle finger if I were completely honest with you. He was just born with a certain attitude, while Noah was more gentle and introverted. Of course the same way that these differences are so noticeable, so is the fact that they are always changing and sometimes even swapping roles. I guess that’s all part of the fun of watching your children develop different parts of their character and seeing different aspects pop their head at different times. It such a mystery box of discovery and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

But it’s funny how we adapt this sense of always thinking we know what our children are going to be like. Or our babies anyway. We assume they are going to follow in the foot steps of the baby before them and you kinda just accept things to be, well, the same.

But you too discover that there are no straight-forward rules when it comes to babies and that they all follow their own routine and are born with strong likes and dislikes. (Yup those aversions we have to certain things didn’t just pop up over night, they were there from the very beginning!) Babies may seem the same but all parents of more than one child will know the saying “they are like calk and cheese” all too well.

Where am I going with all this? I bet your all like, Leigh will you just land the plane already? I guess what I’m trying to say is that Hunter has been a whole box of wonderful surprises. She has proved once again how each child’s temperament is so vastly different from as early as day one. I can already see a strong will coming out, but she is calm and cool with an almost serene way about her. She’s starting to get quite playful now which is just so cute to be at the level where she’s really starting to connect.

And I just can’t wait to see more of her personality coming through. I already feel so bonded with her on that special girl level. What a gift. Everyday is like waking up to new perfectly wrapped present. THREE beautiful, perfect gifts. Okay some days, it takes me a while to get the sleep out of my eyes and focus on the gifts, but it’s there, this beautiful and soul-changing inheritance.

But she is also so different to the boys in that she has been A LOT more clingy ( Only recently has the warmed up to other people holding her, but it’s no secret that mom is her favourite!), a little more all over the place with her sleep compared to Brody yet a better sleeper than Noah by MILES. She wont’ take a bottle and literally lives on my boob. She likes her dummy but only to fall asleep and prefers sleeping in her Doona for day naps. (Yes I know, she’s going against all the rules of sleeping in her cot all the time, but this is just how she likes it and I’m going to fly with it!)

It’s a nice feeling when you begin to let go of the control and let your baby decide their own patterns and routines and just realise that they are different. Made so uniquely from their very first breath. It’s such a relief when we learn to celebrate our children’s differences and let them develop at their own pace and do things in their own way and as frustrating as it can be if your baby doesn’t nap for longer that 20 minutes like your friend’s baby, that’s just the way it is and there’s no point in harping on it. Accept your baby may not like avo (Hunter hates it, but who knows that may change when she’s ready) or being in baby carrier all day but learning to read your babies likes and dislikes is all part of the journey.

The bottom line is that they will eventually do everything the way they should. And until then all we can do is encourage them along the way. And pray for patience during the challenging times. Because as hard as it may be that my baby doesn’t always sleep well or enjoy the food I have made her or be extra-clingy on certain days, there’s not a thing I would change about her unique little self.

Psalm 139:14 

Hi I’m Leigh! Did you enjoy reading this post? I really hope so and would love you to stick around a little longer! Please feel free to browse my blog for other articles or to keep up with all the latest news and to be the first to hear about some great competitions, come and find me me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also email me directly at leeloobaggins@hotmail.com or simply subscribe below and never worry about missing out!