The Three Best Things

I really like being a Mom.

Lately I’ve been noticing there’s sort of a trend to focus on the negatives of mother hood, it seems like the majority of what I see on social media are posts about the not fun, super hard, exhausting parts of motherhood. And don’t get me wrong, I have those too and it’s nice to know other people are going through the same struggles. Being a Mom is a job with challenges unlike any other. But, sometimes I think we spend too much time focusing on the hard parts and not enough time talking about the awesome parts. I am a  big believer in the more you make yourself aware of things, the more you notice them. The more I stop and make note of how awesome a moment is the more often I seem to be having awesome moments. There are a lot of really amazing parts to being a Mom that I think are just as worth celebrating as surviving the hard parts.

These are three of my favourite things from 16 months in:

1. The adoration. I am Hazel’s current number one spot, her absolute favourite person. She doesn’t look at anyone the way she looks at me! From the very first moment we met I knew we were equally obsessed with one another. It reminded me of beach day in grade ten when my best friend and I became best friends – instant, equal adoration is pretty rare in this life when you think about it.
2. The purpose. I have always had a lot of anxiety about what I’m doing and how I do it- what do people think about what I do ? Does everyone think I’m the worst? As all consuming as motherhood is, it has freed me in the sense that even though I still have many of the same concerns I can calm myself down at 3 am with the thought that if I know that if I’m a good mom then I’m okay and I can deal with people thinking I’m not great at everything else.
3. The fun. Yesterday, I spent a good chunk of my day kissing my best friends baby with Hazel. We literally took turns kissing him and then laughing while he squirmed around in between us. Before that we chased a robin around the yard and spied on a rather sassy gardener snake – these were not common pre-child activities in my life and they were so fun.

If you’re going through a rough time today, I feel you! Take the day to be overwhelmed or bummed out but keep in mind tomorrow will come and it could be a sweet one! I’m in a sweet spot right now and it’s okay to enjoy it… who knows tonight I could have scrambled eggs in my hair.