Becoming a Mom
As I sit here writing this I’m staring at my daughter sleeping away in her Mamaroo. To be completely transparent I haven't the slightest idea of how to be a mom. My daughter, Lily, is 7 weeks and two days today. At the beginning of this book, my goal is to share with you what I’ve learned so far in my short journey as if writing from my journal. Each chapter you get to, you may notice I’m becoming more experienced and can share more confident stories.
Please know that this book is not meant to give advice, but only to share what my family and my internal dialogue are going through on our journey. I’m sharing in case our stories can help lift the spirits of frustrated moms by offering a good laugh or finding a similar situation and knowing you’re not alone. Advice is a funny thing. Throughout life, we receive advice both solicited and unsolicited of which we individually choose what to do with. However, once you become pregnant be prepared for all the unsolicited advice and judgment because it will be more than you can handle at times. Then when you’re a Mom all I can say is hold on to your britches- at least the ones that fit right now ;)
Here is what I currently have to say about advice and judgment. “Please keep it to yourself! You have no idea what is happening in my life with my child and my family, so please invest that energy into your own. Thank you.” That is my most polite version.
The number one thing I’ve learned so far is while you’re sweet babe sleeps, you better know what your priority is. As a Health, Life, & Body Transformation Coach, I have always coached my clients to understand the difference between the word priority and priorities. Priorities is not really a word. It is the plural of the word priority. Priority is the fact or condition of being regarded or treated as more important than another, so as defined how can you pluralize it? If you
I am a woman that enjoys a clean, tidy, and efficiently organized home. I also don’t enjoy owning lots of things. They take up too much space and crowd not only my home but my mind and my energy. With that being said, my very first instinct is to begin to clean while my sweet little lady sleeps, yet that is the WRONG thing to do. I learned real quick as your babe becomes more alert, their naps become less frequent and shorter. My instant joy of tidying up with the dream of then enjoying breakfast and a hot cup of coffee would be almost immediately shattered by a screaming Lily demanding to be soothed. I hadn’t even finished cleaning let alone started cooking or brewing. The night before I would create a list that would take two hours at my fastest speed to complete and the day to day reality was my plans and lists end up crumbled on the floor covered in poop, tears, and sweat.
My husband and I often joke about the fact that we are expecting a toddler not an infant, so a harsh reality of learning how to care for an infant was a big shock. I’ve always dreamed of motherhood being teaching my little girl or boy how to make cookies and going to pick out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch jump in puddles with their galoshes and have conversations and color and I know I’ll get that someday but it’s kind of hard to feel impatient for that moment to happen and at the same time I feel like I want these moments to last forever.
She’s adorable her little hand balled up like boxing mitts in front of her face clenching fists, her big smiles as she rips giant ridiculous explosive farts and hiccups and my all-time favorite the milk drunk face. I know as she grows there will be new and amazing things to come while other beautiful wonderful moments start to melt away. This is nothing I could’ve imagined and I feel full of amazement wonder excitement joy frustration anger impatience patients sweat sometimes tears ultimately unconditional love and frustration.
Right now at this exact moment she is grabbing my hands and saying gah and cuckoo every time I say hi to her I mean how can that not make your heart melt.
