OMG! I Used to Be Someone’s Baby!

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I'm joining a lovely group of 22 bloggers for a blog hop celebrating the differences in mothers and celebrating the ways we can support each other. Reading through their entries so far, it has been enlightening to get a glimpse into the lives of other moms. I hope you check them all out below as well as my Mom's Night Away {Review and Giveaway}  and  a DIY Photo Mother's Day Card.

The theme for this post was pretty wide open but I still had trouble settling on what I wanted to share. Eventually I thought about my reaction to becoming a mother for the first time and I remembered a specific moment with my own mother, which helped me decide what to write about… Here's a hint: that is me in that picture.

Wait- What? I Was Your Baby?!

Shortly after Ladybug was born my mom was visiting us, helping out with the baby and the house and giving me a break. I was sitting on the couch, full of crazy new-mom hormones and empty of sleep. Suddenly I was overcome with tears as I had the most bizarre realization: “I had been my mom's baby and she was a new mom when she had me!” Everything I was going through at that moment was something she went through herself when I was born. I cried and thanked her for doing “all this” for me. She scoffed and said not to be silly. It seems pretty obvious that she was my mom, of course she gave birth to me and cared for me as an infant. But somehow it really had not occurred to me until that moment all that she had done by being my mother. She stayed up nights with me when I wouldn't sleep, she worried when she didn't know why I was crying, she changed a million diapers, made a million tiny decisions in taking care of me, second guessed herself and wondered what I'd be like when I grew up. Wow. This lady who I spent years rolling my eyes at had actually spent a huge chuck of her life thinking mostly of me! Don't get me wrong, I was a pretty good kid but as a teenager I am pretty sure I was a huge jerk to my mom on occasion. Maybe that is in the job description of a teenager? I have, even before having kids, told my mom how grateful I am for her and how lucky I have been to have her as my mother. But until that moment sitting on the couch I just never had thought of really what she had done for me just in the “simple” act of being a parent.

This is all partly due to the fact that I was never a “baby person” before having my own kids. I have a large family with a baby being born to someone in the family every year for the past 40 years! At family gatherings people would fawn over the new baby and ask if I wanted to hold the baby. My answer was almost always No. I was pretty nervous about holding babies, and very, very nervous about doing anything else with a baby. So I guess it makes sense that I never really considered all that goes into caring for a baby and that my mother had done all that for me.

Now I Know How My Kids Will Feel

This is a lesson I try to remember during those rare occasions that my daughter misbehaves or is not as amazed by something that I do for her. She has her whole life to live and it is all about her; she's not here to realize all that I do for her, she's here to realize the ways that SHE is awesome, to grow and to become who she will be. One day she might hurt my feelings, intentionally or unintentionally, but I do know that she loves me and will for a long time. I hope during her teenage years that I remember there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Wait- What? You Were Once a Teenager and Single Gal?!

Another strange realization that I had shortly after Ladybug was born is that my mom had been a whole other person before I was born but I had only know this Mom version of her. She had gone through all the same things I did up until becoming a mother and had a whole different identity than the one I knew. My kids will never know the version of me from high school, college or my twenties. And they might not realize those parts of my life existed until they are adults. I had nicknames, I went dancing, I partied a little, I dated. To think of me doing that seems pretty normal but to think of my mom doing those things is just plain weird! And I imagine whenever my kids realize that I did those things it will be just as strange. I'm sure during their teenage years I will be glad that they don't know all those things about me…but I'll probably be too busy worrying that they, themselves are doing those things!

When I think about the first few months of being a mother (almost three years ago!) a lot of things blew my mind, mostly about Ladybug but as Mother's Day approaches I always become sentimental about my mom and all that she did for me. I hope my own realizations help give others- with and without kids- some context with which to think about their mother on Mother's Day! Thanks for reading!

Celebrating the differences of Motherhood is brought to you by our host, Inspired by Family, and by the following contributing blogs: Kids Activities Blog, Rainbows within Reach, Powerful Mothering, Fun-a-Day, The Pleasantest Thing, Royal Baloo, Laly Mom, True Aim, Kids Stuff World, Milk and Cuddles, The Imagination Laboratory, Smiling like Sunshine, Teach Beside Me, JDaniel 4’s Mom, Kitchen Counter Chronicle, My Nearest and Dearest, Nate and Rachel, Two-Daloo, Mamas Like Me, Mama Miss, One Mommy. . If you are a blogger and you have a story or something to share on how you celebrated motherhood, feel free to add a link to your post so we can read your story as well. Note: by sharing you give us permission to feature you (attributing of course). .

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