Motherhood – The Beginning

I’ve been thinking more strategically about this blog for a while now and I really do love having an outlet for all the ideas and inspiration God gives me.  God’s been challenging me at becoming effective with whatever I do and not just be doing something for the sake of taking up time – we all know how easy that happens!  So I wanted to start sharing a bit more on motherhood and how to become the best mum to your kids and still love your husband, your kids – and yourself!  So get ready to go behind the scenes into my mummy world, some seriously practical how-to’s and the occasional story that is almost too horrifying but must be shared in the hope to save you from a similar peril.  Oh yes, now it begins.

When you become a mum it can be like going through the five phases of death – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance!  We’ve all seen the super (crazy) mum’s who continue on with their pre-baby lives with baby-in-tow (guilty!).  Then they start to get angry because their baby is sleeping less, eating more and can now roll off the bed, changing table and couch.

Next they start to bargain with themselves (or worse, their baby) – if you sleep through the night mummy will play with you all day tomorrow and take you to the park.  Then they end up just totally depressed because no matter how many times they do the laundry and dishes nothing every seems to be clean!  Our baby doesn’t listen to us, sleeps way under the recommended amount and our bodies still look like a sack of potatoes even though we’ve been breastfeeding non stop for three months.

And then we finally arrive at acceptance!!  We are mothers.  We love, we give, we sacrifice, we work hard, and then we work even harder and end up pregnant again and the cycle repeats.  Oh yes. This may sound like a tragic little story, but this is just the common life of a mother.  We are not disadvantaged, we are not segregated from society, we are not disabled or terminally ill, we are mothers!  We can do this!!

Celebrity lifestyle has dramatised motherhood so much our expectations are completely unrealistic.  Everything about your life will change when you become a mother, and if it doesn’t you’re probably not doing it right.  We don’t have maids, nurses, personal trainers, chefs and chauffeurs.  We do all of that ourselves.  Yes it’s hard work, but why should we expect to have it easy?  Why are we all so entitled to live the life of a retired person by 25?  The sooner we accept that life as a mother is hard work the sooner we’ll get to enjoy the fruits of our labour – think of the smell of freshly cleaned sheets, being able to find absolutely anything in under 30 seconds and having clean clothes to wear every day.

Days full of energy after nights of peaceful sleep will return – or so I’ve been told.  But until then crank up the worship music, be thankful to God every day for the blessings of children in your life and give motherhood your all.

A wise women builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.  Proverbs 14:1