I read it you. You read it. We all read it.
Some of us even read it while watching the Baby Story and Coming Home...
How ready we were to become the best mothers in the world to the healthiest, cutest and more precious ones of all...Our Babies.
Nothing was going to get in our way, Not this mama!
Organized, calm, collected, educated on everything from the perfect latch to how to implement a successful time-out, we were READY!
But actually truly PREPARED...Not so much...
1. What to expect to happen in all of your relationships when baby is born;
Spouses, friends, parents,your boss, your hairdresser, your favorite bartender...YOU are no longer the same person which means your relationships won't be the same. The girl you used to shoot Tequila at the Bar takes a hike for the new mommy who can only talk about her nipples. Your husband's cute quirky ways become liabilities in your marriage as you have enough to worry about. As your children grow you relive your childhood all over again and want to do it all better....How can YOU do it all better when you haven't worked on HOW to make it better but just EXPECTED it to be better?
2. What to expect when the expected doesn't happen.
The first roll, the first smile, the first time they can hold their bottles, the first time they can sit up, the first cereal...The First of many firsts...Until they don't happen on schedule anymore...
Speech. Following directions. Making friends. Blending in....Even tough your precious ones were on time for EVERYTHING else,it's not happening anymore. And then the First time you feel like YOU don't blend in anymore with your mommy friends, is the First of many, unfortunately, to come. The First time you see your child getting ignored by another child. The First time you want to kick the child who picked on your child's "funny talk". The First time you, in a long long time, you have wanted to shoot Tequila with the old friends...Whom you now realize you miss very much.
3. What to expect when you disappoint yourself, as a mother, for the first time:
The first time you lose your patience, the first time you scream, the first time you spank,the first time you squeeze an elbow while your teeth grow out of your mouth, the first time you look like "That" mom at the mall, grocery store, playground, and of course the restaurant where your child runs, screams, yells, throws utensils, food..and the Ultimate tantrum.Take a big pie of that Humble pie you have been carrying around before you had children, and knew it all, and take another bite when it happens again. We are humans. Just like everyone else.
The key is to NOT expect. The key is to learn NOT to.
"Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories. " ~John Wilmot
xoxo
