My oldest child turns 10 this week. How that is possible I don’t know but here we are, ready or not.
Of course, his 10th birthday marks 10 years of officially being a mom for me. How life has changed since he was born 10 years ago!
10 years of being a mom.
5 precious kiddos.
I remember those early days with my firstborn. Lots of hard nights at first, but waking up in the morning and marveling that I got to dress and take care of my very own, live baby doll. He was so cute (still is!)
I remember taking him to the park when he was too little to even go in the swings, but I laid out a blanket and we had a little picnic at the park, just me and my baby.
I remember lots of walks, just me and my baby. And then the fun outings as a family of three on the weekends when Pablo was free.
There were hard things about that first year of course (trying to get that baby to sleep longer than 30 minutes was a big one, ha!) but over all I LOVED it. This is what I was made for, I felt. Being Caleb’s mom.
Sofi girl joined us a bit shy of two years later, our perfect baby girl. I distinctly remember standing at the door with my two babies and crying when Pablo had to go back to work after a short week at home following the birth.
The months that followed are a bit of a blur. Little Sofi for sure didn’t get rocked as much as Caleb had because I was busy keeping my toddler out of trouble. She didn’t know any different though and she for sure got loads of love from us, Caleb included.
Even though I have five kids now, I still think that the transition from 1 to 2 is probably the hardest, especially if your kids are close in age. Once Lucas came along 2 years later we were already used to a little chaos and it didn’t feel as overwhelming.
And by the time we had Alex (2 and a half years later) and Danny (a little more than 2 years after that) my big kiddos were already able to help out a bit here and there. Having extra eyes and hands to keep the toddler out of trouble? Game changer!
These last 10 years of motherhood have held both expected and unexpected moments and feelings.
I felt pretty prepared for motherhood, as prepared as I could be anyway. I’m a big sister to eleven after all, so I was used to kids. I’m pretty sure I changed my first diaper at 7 or 8 years old. Plus, I’d babysat and nannied for other families for years. So I felt prepared.
And for sure certain things did come naturally and I’m grateful. But I also chuckle at how little I knew. And how some things seemed so obvious and black and white until I had my own kids.
Now, a decade in I’ve learned a lot while also continually realizing how much I don’t know. (Parenting seems to be getting less simple as we go . . who would’ve guessed, huh? haha)
Two years ago I shared a blog post with ten lessons I learned after eight years of parenting. I won’t rehash them all now but they’re lessons that still feel quite relevant to my life right now. (You can read that whole post here.)
With Caleb turning ten, the reality that time flies is really hitting me. Our time with our kids is SO short in the grand scheme of things. Ugh, I hate to think about it.
But then I think about how I can’t wait to see the adults that my kids are going to become. I can already see glimpses here and there with my older kids, moments where we share a look or a laugh over something one of the younger kids is doing. It’s really cool and makes me think that this whole kids-growing-up thing might not be so bad.
Anyway, I guess I don’t really have some great, profound thought to offer today. Just that ten years has flown by and I imagine that the next ten will go even faster.
My resolve for this next decade of motherhood is to pray for my kids more. Because man that’s what they need more than all the parenting books and all my best fumbling efforts. They need a mom who prays for them. If you’re reading this and you know me, ask me sometime if I’ve been praying daily for my kids, would you?
Leave a Reply