Things I've Learned as a Mom

With Tanner's first birthday and it being summer break, I've had some time to reflect on the past year. I decided to make two different lists to describe my journey. I included a few random pictures, too.

Things I’ve learned as a Stay-at-Home-Mom

·         My body is so amazing. It grew a baby inside my belly, it knew exactly how to get the baby out, it healed correctly and then it made baby food! There have been so many amazing things that my body has gone through, some gross, some painful, but mostly amazing.

·         Baby clothes lie about their size. Don’t wait until baby is 6 months old to put size 6 month clothes on him. It will be too late!

·         Every time we travel, Tanner gets sick 1-2 days after the trip. So plan accordingly.

·         It’s very easy to get worried about every curve, wrinkle, fuzz and dimple on my baby. I’ve never been so worried about things as I have with my baby.

·         There IS a way to not worry so much. Do everything you can, then trust in the Lord! God will let you know if you need to keep worrying or not.

·         Baby poop will stain clothes terribly, so clean the poop explosions right away!

·         Breastfeeding takes a lot of time. I wish someone would have told me that even though baby eats every 2-3 hours, all I’ll do is feed, change baby, work at putting baby to sleep, rest for 15 minutes and then start all over again.

·         When going places, don’t put anything in the trunk except the stroller. You will need everything at some point during the drive.

·         Priesthood power is amazing.

·         If I keep at it, I’ll get the hang of it. This I especially learned with breastfeeding. Tanner didn’t latch on correctly for a while, so I used a nipple shield. Then we had thrush and yeast. I wanted to give up several times. But with the encouragement from friends and family, I kept with it.  And it really did get easier, it even got FUN! We ended up breastfeeding for 10 months, which was longer than I thought we’d do!!

·         It is impossible to take too many pictures of my baby and my family. Sometimes I regret that I didn’t take more.

·         Always trust my motherly instincts. Mama knows best. I think the Spirit has a lot to do with “motherly instincts.”

·         Follow my baby’s lead. If he’s not ready for it, don’t force it! This also has to do with listening to the “motherly instincts.”

·         Try to take the annoying things in stride. There’s nothing you can do right now about the drawer that you just bashed your leg into, or the trash-can that fell over, or the onesie that won’t snap correctly. These things drive me NUTS, so it is very hard to be patient. But I must try to just take it in stride!

·         It really is okay to just let the dishes and the floor stay dirty. It’s more important to be with my baby. Besides, he’ll clean the floor when he drags his legs around while crawling!

·         When going out, take every opportunity you have to change the diaper. It could be hours before you get another chance.

·         Prayer can go a long way, and God does answer prayers.

·         The more you pray humbly, the more your prayers will change to His will. For example, some nights I would pray earnestly and specifically that Tanner would sleep through the night. And on those nights, he would! Other times I would try praying for Tanner to sleep through the night, but the Spirit would tell me that I should pray for Tanner to get the rest he needs and pray to have patience if he wakes up in the middle of the night. And that made it so that God could still answer my prayers! 

·         It’s true that if you throw the baby around too much after they eat, then they will throw up on you. I used to think that other moms were being way over protective, but now I know otherwise.

Things I’ve learned as a Working Mom:

·         As time goes on, it gets harder and harder to drop my baby off with someone else. I was not expecting this. I figured it would get easier and easier.

·         My Mama-Wolf-Nose is still powerful when I’m away from my baby.  I didn’t expect to feel so upset the first few days when I picked Tanner up from Daycare. He did not smell like me! I had to accept that it was okay for him to smell like someone else.

·         Some days are going to be harder than others. And that’s okay.

·         The two most important people on the planet are Jeremy and Tanner. This governs all decision making.

·         Again I learned that Priesthood power is amazing. Jeremy gave me a blessing before I started work. I often thought back to the words he said, and it helped me get through some very tough times.

·         Once again, I learned that prayer can go a long way.

·         And the more you try to seek God’s will, the more your prayers will change to His will. For example, sometimes I would try praying that I could get everything done that I need to at work. But with the Spirit’s help, my prayers changed. Instead, I prayed that I would get the most important things done that day and that I would be able to keep perspective on what matters most.

·         It IS possible to leave work at 4:00 every day!

·         A healthy baby truly is a happy baby. A sick baby messes up a lot of things.

·         For lunches at work, use pre-made fresh  lunches from the grocery store; cheaper, healthier, easier.

·         It sucks not having any family nearby to help out, especially when you are in a bind for a babysitter. But with prayer, the Lord always provides someone to come to the rescue!

·         Time is precious. Enjoy the moment- no matter where you are or who you’re with.

·         When it gets too overwhelming to wash baby bottles and nipples, just go buy more. It’s worth the $5.

·         In order to survive, I have to care less about menial things. There just isn’t time to worry about every detail at work, so my motto at work became “Care LESS about it!” This was very liberating, and it allowed me to manage my time better at work.

·         There is more than one way for people to take care of my baby, and that is okay (to an extent, of course). For the most part, he was fine!

·         Without a good Saturday to clean up from the week and a good Sunday to prepare for the next week, life gets really messy.

·         Everything is better when Jeremy is around.

·         Once again I learned that not only do I enjoy teaching, God wants me working with children.

·         Being a working mom is sometimes really, really hard.

·         When I want to give up and think I can’t go any further, just say a prayer and focus on getting through the next 5 minutes of life. Then repeat until I get through the entire day.

·         Having my own child makes teaching other children more meaningful. I found myself thinking as I taught “I should give this child the same attention that I want Tanner’s teachers to give to Tanner” And “This child is just as special to God as Tanner, so don’t brush aside his needs” And “This girl was once a sweet little baby like Tanner, so give her all the love she deserves.”

·         Having 600 students makes being a mom more meaningful. I found myself thinking as I was home with Tanner “I should start telling Tanner which hand is his right hand so that he’ll know by the time he is in Kindergarten” And “Even though it’s late, I need to read Tanner his books” And “If I can get Tanner to love veggies now, maybe he won’t choose corndogs every day for lunch like some of my students!”

·         Even though there are many days where it seems like no one appreciates me, that is far from the truth! People DO care about what I do.

·         It’s really important to help others feel appreciated for what THEY do. All I have to do is tell them!! (And they will be much more willing to support me in the future)  

·         The love that I have for my students is not much different than the love I have for Tanner. My son is the most important child to me in the world, but I love all my students in a very similar way. It’s so cool that my job gives me hundreds of children to love!

·         Sometimes Heavenly Father blesses us by giving us another challenge or trial in life. This is a very interesting concept to me that I keep learning about. Perhaps I’ll blog more about this later.

·         I am never alone. Heavenly Father is always aware of me and my needs.

·         Without having Tanner, I never would have learned how to manage my time or manage my eternal priorities. I am SO grateful for him and Jeremy in my life!!