The Honest to Goodness Best Part About Being a New Mom

A lot of times when you ask new moms what their favorite part about being a new mom is, they gush about how much they love breastfeeding, or watching their baby sleep, or looking into their baby's eyes, etc., etc..

As much as I enjoy doing all of those things (let's be honest, breastfeeding only about half the time), I think my honest to goodness favorite part about being a new mom is watching the man I love more than anything in the world be a new dad.

Before Joey was born, I asked Neal several times if he wanted to cut the cord.  He replied that he didn't know...it kind of grossed him out (really...who can blame him?).  When Joey was born though, and the doctor looked at him and asked if he wanted to cut the cord, I happened to look at Neal.  The look of absolute adoration in Neal's eyes for this little human that he really hadn't even met yet is one I will treasure, and never forget.  I am so grateful that I just happened to look at him at that exact second.

While still in the labor and delivery room, the nurses did all of Joey's measurements, and Neal took a TON of pictures.  I won't post them on here since I already posted them in the post about Joey's birth that you can read here.

Fast forward about 9 hours, and this was my view from my bed:

They slept like this through three sessions of General Conference.  It was the sweetest sight to me :)

During the first week of Joey's life, he had jaundice.  It was severe enough that we had to go get him tested every other day, but thankfully didn't become severe enough that we had to go back to the hospital.  During this time, I was pretty much a basket case about it.  One night, I asked Neal and my dad to give Joey a priesthood blessing.  Listening to Neal give his first blessing to our son was an incredibly special moment.

My favorite part of every day is when Neal comes home from work, and kisses Joey sweetly on the forehead.  He also says "goodnight" to him this way every night.  It makes my heart swell with love.

I'll let you in on a little secret - Neal swore we would not be those parents who posted a gazillion pictures of their kid on Facebook.  For the first little bit we posted a ton, but we've slowed down a little.  However, I love it when I get little surprises like opening my Facebook and seeing that Neal posted a picture like this with a caption "This kid!!!!":

It makes me swoon to watch Neal be so gentle and loving with this tiny human.  It truly is my favorite parts of being a new mom!