6 Months Mommiversary
I’m halfway through my first year of momming! I can’t believe it’s been six months already. These past six months have taught me a lot that I feel the need to share, so I’ve compiled a list of six things my six months of momming have taught me.
Take your time...you’ll never get it back. If I knew when I first got pregnant that I could take FOUR YEARS off of work without penalty, I certainly would have had a better financial plan to, at least, stay out of work for an entire year. While I have had moments where I craved more adult interaction, most days I was extremely content with being at home and basking in this brand new experience.
The mini-milestones are things that I can’t recreate with my child. This entire first year is such a beautiful, sometimes stressful and all encompassing experience that I only get to experience once. Whether or not I choose to have another child somewhere in the future, this particular experience is unique and will never happen for me again. I deserve to savor each moment.
Nothing will ever be the same. I have changed as a person so tremendously. Change can be very uncomfortable as I am one to get rooted in routines and the familiar. At the top of 2020 (and 3 months into being a mom) I resolved to make my word of the year “"CONFIDENT.” I decided that whatever I do from here on out, I will be confident in that. That has promoted my personal evolution independent of being a mom. Things that I’ve liked and tolerated in the past, I simply do not. I’ve grown more sure of myself with less of a care about who likes me or my decisions. My baby loves me and he is at the core of most of the things I say and do. I want to model for him what it looks like to be sure of oneself.
You don’t have to accept all gifts and/or hand me downs. Everyone wants to buy things for my kid. The truth is, I don’t like everything that is purchased and/or handed down. Back in November, a mom that I met told me that it was ok to not accept everything. I am particular about what I put on and in my son’s body and everyone is not. With that, I can simply say “thank you” and choose to do what I please with that which is given to me.
Luxuriate. I’ve taken self care up a few notches! I feel like I owe it to myself to be good to myself. I love on my son all of the time. I have learned to carve out small moments to show love to myself and it does wonders for my mood.
When it comes to my child, other people’s feelings really don’t matter. Let me explain: I’ve always had a heart for people. I’ve always cared about what people thought and felt about me. I’ve wanted to please others so much so that I’d prioritize the needs and desires of others over mine. Being a mom has taught me that my feelings and intuitions will NEVER EVER take a backseat to anyone else’s. People will do things “for” my child without consulting with me and if it’s not something I approve of, I reserve the right to say so. What works for others does not always necessarily work for me and mine …and that is ok. I do not owe anyone an explanation or an apology for doing what I please with my child and demanding that others do what I request as well.
In closing, I always try to be mindful of tone. I do not want this post to come off as a ball of negativity or for people to perceive me as another crazy woman who happens to be a mom. Instead, I want you to have read this as my story of growth. I want you to walk away from this read, taking away how motherhood has forced me to seek out comfort in the uncomfortable; how motherhood has wiggled me into a space where I have found my voice and am learning day by day to get a little louder; how motherhood has re-birthed the woman in me. Happy Six Months To Me!
