A Mom’s Guide to Enjoying Motherhood!

 

A Mom’s Guide to Enjoying Motherhood! The wind was blowing so hard tonight as I watched my oldest son, Max, play Little League baseball. He was doing some hip hop moves on second base when he should have been paying attention to the game that was going on around him. On any other night I might have hollered at him to pay attention to what was going on, but tonight I just chuckled to myself. I’m learning to relax a little bit more these days. 

 

Max is not your ordinary average 4th grader. He wants to be a ventriloquist, loves documentaries that most kids would hate, and he still likes to snuggle his mom; I know that won’t last forever. 

 

Most nights Max begs me to come talk to him before he falls asleep, and most nights I decline because I am ready for some adult time…I’m sad about that. I’m trying harder to embrace these small moments with my sweet first-born little boy. I’ll never forget the first time I held him in my arms and the complete JOY and LOVE that filled my heart. Now he’s too big to hold in my arms, so when he asks me to snuggle, I’m going to say yes. I hear the best stories when I take the short 10 minutes to talk to my little guy. I learn about the girls he likes, and I hear about A LOT of inventions that he is going to make when he “gets the right materials.” 

 

These moments won’t last forever. 

 

I was scrubbing the dishes earlier this week, and rushing to get the house spotless, for the millionth time, when my sweet and sassy Sophie pulled on my shirt and asked me to play with playdough with her. Normally, I probably would have told her to wait just a few minutes, because we can’t live in filth, but this time I stopped everything I was doing and sat down to play with her. We made matching bracelets, and ‘cooked’ a delicious chicken and broccoli dinner in her pretend oven. She told me about her imaginary friend Charlie, and we laughed about how silly he is. She told me he lives on the mountain with Jesus; which freaked me out for a while because I thought she was seeing a dead person…but then she admitted he’s just pretending, so now I feel better. Sophie was so pleased that she kept telling me she loved me, and that I was the best mom ever. It felt awesome, and it was a lot more fun than doing the dishes. 

 

Moments like this won’t last forever. 

 

For years my little Gracie Kay had the most miserable fits over EVERYTHING. Kicking, screaming, freaking outfits! I was about to lose my mind. I would scream at her sometimes because I thought that was the only way to get her attention. I was wrong. One day I was talking to my grandma about Gracie and she told me that “Kids will be whatever you tell them they are,” and that really stuck with me. The next time Gracie started freaking out I just sat down and held her and snuggled her. Instead of telling her what she needed to fix, I just sat and told her everything I loved about her. And guess what? She started believing me. She started calming down and her confidence grew. She’s a different person now, and so am I. We snuggle a LOT more, and we have a good heart-to-heart hug every morning and night. Snuggling is so much better than screaming. She’ll grow out of this too…sadly. 

 

Moments like this won’t last forever. 

 

Ivie is my youngest, and she is the sweetest little babe on the planet, but that didn’t stop me from feeling frustrated with the menial tasks that come with taking care of a baby. I was feeling pretty down for a while because I felt like I had a lost a lot of freedom when I had her. It’s a terrible thing to say, but I was feeling terrible in general and my attitude was a reflection of that. Cleaning bums, waking up every 3 hours to feed her in the night, and feeling cooped up were wearing on my mental health. Then I realized…

 

Moments like this won’t last forever.

 

Ivie is going to turn into a 9-year-old one day and I’ll be dying to have her sweet and squishy little baby arms back around my neck. I’ll cling to these sweet memories of her touching my face while I hold her and feed her every day. I’ll wish for her sweet little bald head to curl up into my neck when she’s tired. I don’t want to wish this time away because I know…

 

Moments like this DON’T last forever. 

 

Moms have such a hard job. We WORRY about EVERYTHING. We love our kids with everything we have, but the fact remains that it’s not always an easy job. Joy can be found in this difficult job though! The most overwhelming love and joy I’ve ever felt are in the moments I share with my sweet family. The quiet moments when the t.v. is off, phones are put away, and the whole family is present. Really present. Those are the moments that help me to enjoy motherhood the most. I will try harder to be present from now on because I know, 

 

Moments like this won’t last forever. 

 

Jessica