Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Thoughts on being a mama


This week it's all about Micha turning six months old. And not only are we celebrating that, I'm also celebrating being a mom for six months already (if you don't count those nine months that I carried the boy)! 

I thought it would be fun to make a list of what I've learned about myself being a mom so far.



I've always been a home body, and being a stay at home mom (with the exception of the two nights I work as a Barista) has been so perfect for me. I actually love living the (almost repetitive) day to day life, without planning things to far ahead. 

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With a baby added to the mix nothing stays the same for long. Whenever we thought we had this parenting thing figured out Micha would suddenly decide to shake things up and do things differently. 
Like once when he was around ten weeks old he slept from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next morning. 
We were all like 'Yeah baby, you're sleeping through the night' and we expected him to do that the followings nights as well. Well, that didn't happen! 
I've learned to enjoy the good moments and embrace that extra hour of sleep if I get it, because you never know what will happen next.

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I'm able to function even after six months of not having a normal nights sleep, who would've thought?

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Being a mom = being selfless. I remember about a week after Micha was born I just felt so overwhelmed and caught myself thinking 'I can't do this, I want my normal, simple life back'. It just hit me like a ton of bricks that my life didn't revolve around me anymore. And I'm so glad it doesn't, it's been so good for me!

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I've heard people saying that motherhood means having your heart living outside of your body, and it's so true! The love I feel for my little man is so great, it's almost frightening. I would do anything for for him.  

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Seeing my husband as a papa has made him even more attractive, 
but having a baby means being very intentional in taking time for your loved one. 
The first few weeks we had Micha we were so busy taking care of him that we forgot to connect with each other. It was when my sister said how important it was to take time for each other that we were reminded that we hadn't. 
It's something that we constantly need to work on, 
because being good parents for Micha means being good spouses for each other.

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I feel confident in our choices how to raise Micha. 
Before he was born we discussed how we would like to raise him. 
We were set on breastfeeding for at least a year, 
attachment parenting, cloth diapering, no crying-it-out and Baby-led weaning. 
Sometimes when we shared our thoughts about these things we would get comments like:
 'Just wait and see, you won't want to nurse for that long', 
'Crying-it-out helped for us, you'll end up doing it too', 
'Cloth diapering seems like so much work, you won't have time for it'. 
Whenever someone said something like that we would shrug it off, but I couldn't help thinking 
'What if they're right?' 
I'm so glad we stuck to our choices because things are going pretty well and Micha is happy!

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I need God's help to be a good parent. 
I need his wisdom to make good choices, 
I need his patience when mine is failing, 
I need his strength when I feel exhausted, 
I need his peace when I feel overwhelmed, 
I need his love to be able to love. 

With God's help I can be the mama I want to be!

Super blurry, but I love this photo!

And I love being a mama!


Love, Maria

9 comments:

  1. what a cute baby! love his shirt! XO

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  2. I've only been a mama for 3 months, but find myself agreeing with every single one of these things! I am such a homebody, and mamahood has only made me realize this even more. There are times when I don't leave the house for days, and I am okay with that :) And the sleeping through the night thing...our daughter slept for 8 hours the other night. We so thought we had turned a corner, but turns out it was only a one night thing...oh parenthood! :)

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    1. They're sneaky little things, those baby's :)!
      xo

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  3. your such a good mama, what a blessed 6 month old boy (can't believe he has reached that milestone already! xo

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    1. I know, right! Before I know it he'll be 18 and leaving home for college... :(

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  4. Sweet post. You seem like such a content momma- fun fact. I nursed for 17 months and let Jude wean himself and it was fantastic. Jude slept in the same bed with me until basically January when I realized that I was using him for my own comfort since I'm a single parent. I tried crying it out and THAT didn't work for me. So all that to say, if no one has told you yet, its completely possible to parent the way your parenting and to do it well and be happy and enjoy it. I don't think there's much I would change about the way I raised Jude. And he's seriously amazingly independent and happy. So keep up the good work. In the end however you parent will be fine, but it is possible to do those things. I did them while getting divorced and being a single parent most of the time and working full time. If I can do it, anyone can :)

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    1. Thank you so much for the encouragement!

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  5. As my baby plays "Concerning Hobbits" in my ear on the recorder, I also am thankful to be a mama :-).
    Love you! Your big sister.

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UPDATE: I'M GOING TO BE USING WORD VERIFICATION FOR A BIT, THE SPAM WAS GETTING OUT OF CONTROL! SORRY!

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