Friday, September 7, 2012

The Things I Wish I Knew

The things I wish I knew when I became a parent for the first time...

Everything is a phase. It doesn’t feel like it when you’re in it—when they won’t sleep, when they cry for hours, when they insist on only eating a certain color food. No, when you’re in it, you feel rationally convinced it is going to go on forever. But it won’t. It never does. Just ride it out.

Your body will go back to normal. It may take a while, but it will. You will not feel like a jiggly blob forever.

The window of time that you get to hold your baby- truly hold them and snuggle them- is so short. Do it whenever you want to and don’t feel guilty. By the time they turn one they’ll be so active they’ll be running away from you (ahem, Davis) and you’ll miss those days when they laid on your chest for hours.

You are doing a great job. Even when you have a bad day, and you have no patience, and you feel like you’re doing everything wrong- you’re doing a great job. All your kids need is love. If you love them, and they know that, you’re already doing better than you think.

Trust your intuition. Don’t ever doubt the God-given sense that mothers have- it’s there for a reason.

Don’t stress- your kids can feel it.

Kids do everything at a different pace. Everything. Do not panic because your child isn’t clapping, or holding their bottle, or waving at the exact second the other kids are. These things are trivial. And they all catch up to each other at some point.

You will never be the same. Ever.

You will understand why mothers cry at Hallmark commercials and feel so silly for all the times you rolled your eyes. Those moments on those commercials, they are important. When you walk into your child’s room and they light up to see you. When you take them to school for the first time. Sitting around the table eating dinner. Brushing your daughter’s hair. Every moment is important…treasure it, and never take even those seemingly mundane activities for granted. Those moments make up your life.

2 comments:

Lisa @ lists in my pocket said...

Awesome post - I needed to hear it! Going to go enjoy some baby snuggles now. :)

Sara Brown said...

Jenn - this post is absolutely perfect and SO true. Love it.

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