Motherhood Confessions: What I wish I knew before having a baby - but positive.

With my history of nannying and the gift of witnessing a couple girlfriends endure sleepless nights, spit up in their hair, leaky boobs and baby blues, I felt as though I had an advantage becoming a mother myself. No one had to tell me twice how tired I would be or how date nights would be few and far between. I understood. Of course, when you’re in the season yourself, you really feel that. Sure, there were days that required more deep breaths and tears in the shower, but I look back and pride myself on the pragmatic ways I made life work with a new baby. 

What I wish people told me about motherhood was that my heart would swell to the size of (name something really big) and that I would cry more times out of pure joy over the times sleep was stolen. I would learn to delight in things like drooly baby babble and big blinking blue eyes during feedings. No one told me of the unexplainable bliss of reuniting with my baby when picking her from (name some form of childcare) and that smile - the one that lets everyone know: “that’s my mama”.  

It was all so beautiful:

The fascination with my nose, my hair, my earrings, my eyeballs - I loved it.

   The little hands - oh, the little hands and the gentle way they rested on me.

The cheek-to-cheek dancing that seemed to soothe us both. 

Laying on a blanket doing nothing but also doing everything.

But most of all, I became someone I didn’t even know I wanted to be. She made me better and called me higher with every precious coo.

So dearest mama-to-be: 

This is what I wish for you to know before having your baby.