A Mother's Day Reflection: One Year of Motherhood

While uploading pictures from this Mother's Day, I looked back at my post from last year.  I tend to focus in this blog on the changes Jax has made:  his milestones, his growth, his changing personality.  What I haven't focused or reflected on is the change that has happened to me over this past year.  Last Mother's day Jax was less than 2 weeks old.  I was still in survival mode as I navigated a world of newborn care that no amount of preparation or research could have fully prepared me for.  I was not confident AT ALL in my ability to care for this precious life, this responsibility, I had been given.  I remember looking at Jasper when it was time to leave the hospital thinking "they are just going to let us take him out of here?"  Confidence came with time.  However, one thing I am always amazed by was how natural motherhood felt to me from the moment he was placed into my arms.   

Motherhood has more "on the job" training than any other job out there.  I have learned a lot over this last year and wanted to write down of few of those lessons.

1)  Babies cry and sometimes there is nothing you can do to stop it.  In these cases I just figured if I couldn't stop him I would just join him.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.        

2)  You can sit perfectly still for hours if there is a sleeping baby in  your arms who is in desperate need of a nap.  It didn't matter how hungry or tired I was or how badly I needed to use the restroom, if my baby was sleeping, I wasn't moving!

3)  Your baby's first smile is one of the most amazing sights you will see.  Then their smiles somehow continue to get cuter even though it doesn't seem possible. 


4)  You can leave your baby and they will be perfectly fine when you return.  That doesn't make it any easier to leave those first few times though. 

5)  Babies can also fall off a bed and be perfectly fine.  I wish I didn't know this fact from firsthand knowledge. 

6)  At some point your kid will finally start to sleep.  For us it was at 6 months and not a day sooner.  


7)  If you are someone that is constantly worried about the safety of your child, you are guaranteed to have a child that is a daredevil.  Jasper must have said "Saftey First" to our son a million times in her first year of life.  Our child has no fear when it comes to his physical movements.  Most of the time he is going head first off of something.   See 5) above. 

8)  No matter how strong you are, a baby will seem stronger when they won't lay still for a diaper change.  My son proves this theory with almost every diaper change. 

9)  In the first year, every "age" gets better and better.  I don't have experience yet with anything over one year, but this theory has continued to prove true for me. 

10)  When you think that there isn't possibly any more room in your heart, you love your child even more.  I remember thinking before Jax was born that there was no way I could possibly love this little baby any more than I already did.  Then he was born and my love for him seemed to grow stronger every single day.

For this Mother's Day we stayed home as a family.  Jasper got up with Jax and I slept in for another hour.  I was then greeted by this handsome fella in bed. 

We had a fantastic day at home together just playing.  Jasper took these pictures right before Jax went to sleep when we were reading out bedtime books.  I just love them.

I am sure during this next year of motherhood I will learn many more things (including how to take care of two kids under two!) and I just cannot wait.  I love being a mother more than I ever imagined possible and know that it will continue to get even better.