Reflecting on my Motherhood Journey – Year 3
Three years ago, my husband and I welcomed our son into our family. I am beyond grateful to have our little human in my life. Every day with him is really a gift. Leading up to his third birthday, I have been thinking about how motherhood has changed me and the lessons I have learned.
In this blog post, I will share the five lessons I have learned on my motherhood Journey so far.
Lesson #1: Enjoy the little things
My son and I have something in common: we both like a good laugh. It could be for the smallest things. We have dance parties, make each other laugh, and bond over the cutest things. Our son is living his best life. He reminds me to laugh as often as possible and not wait for those huge milestones to be happy. I want to seize every opportunity to enjoy our moments together, especially in busy times.
Lesson #2: Embrace the gift of a great Father
This past Father's Day, I celebrated my husband in a post about how I'm learning about Fatherhood through him. I was raised by an incredible single mother. Growing up, I did not know what it was like to have a father in my life. My son is very fortunate to have a father who is loving and very involved in his life. In this third year, I had the opportunity to travel for work, and my husband was there to care for our son fully. I am very thankful for a partner on this journey.
Lesson #3: Keep working towards your goals
At this stage of my life, I have many personal and professional goals that I still want to accomplish. When I became a mother, one of my fears was that my life would change so much, making working towards my goals difficult. Don't get me wrong, things have changed in my life since I had a baby. However, I have also learned that my determination as a mother is on another level. I have focused on working towards the goals that are very important to me.
Lesson #4: Take the time you need for yourself
As caregivers, we have a lot of responsibilities that could make us forget ourselves. I really can't remember the last time I slept through the night for a whole week consecutively. Also, due to the limited time I have available, I had to cut down on some self-care tasks that were important to me. This past year, I have prioritized more of those self-care activities that I could not do for the first two years of my son's life. It has been great to explore the things that are now part of my new routine of prioritizing myself.
Lesson #5: Lean into the new growth opportunities
With every new year of our son's life, we are faced with new experiences and milestones. As a planner, I always try to predict when things will happen to ensure we are prepared. I have learned that while there are some things that you can foresee, there will be things you can't. The funniest has been trying to predict what size of clothes our son will fit in by the following winter. Let's say his growth rate is one of the things that are totally out of my control, and I have made peace with it.
Final Thoughts
The first three years of my motherhood journey have allowed me to dance, laugh, and do things I have never done before. I am learning many valuable lessons from our son. As much as I get to teach him, he teaches me a lot too. Even with the difficult moments that come with parenthood, the happy moments make it worth it.
I am looking forward to this next year.