I am 35 weeks pregnant with our second child. I am in awe of the way God intricately designed our bodies to carry children, as well as His beautiful design of family. The older I get, the more grateful I am for the beauty of marriage and parenting.
I have some incredible women in my life who celebrated my role as a mother and the life of this child with a baby shower just a few weeks ago. Right before opening up the most thoughtful gifts for the baby, everyone went around and shared some of their best advice to encourage me as I transition as a mother of one to a mother of two children!
Their words were inspiring and I wanted to share them with you today to give you hope and bits of wisdom to help you on your journey of motherhood, whether you are about to have one child or ten!
These are great reminders of treasuring the gift of motherhood and the precious lives we are looking after.
Enjoy your little ones and pick your battles carefully.
Don’t strive for perfect children with perfect behavior, rather focus on the few major areas you want to train your child. Sometimes as moms we can overwhelm ourselves with the belief that our children must perfect all the time and this is unrealistic…God, our Father, knows we cannot even attain this “perfection” as adults!
Ask for help.
This advice was reiterated by several other moms at my shower. We cannot convince ourselves that we can do it all…even if we really want to. Taking the time to invite another into our mess so they can help us builds up trust and reliance in a relationship. Don’t be shy, ask for the help you need.
Hold your baby more.
I love physical touch! It must be one of my top love languages! The season our children can sit in our laps comfortably only lasts a short while. Make time to hold your baby before you realize he/she is not a baby anymore.
Children will test you when you are nursing, but it is worth it to “unplug” to acknowledge them and affirm for them that you are still their mama too!
This is an important one for the transition your child(ren) are adjusting to with the new baby. Be sure to show all of your children that they are sharing your attention and they need to respect the choices you make to tend to one of them at a time.
Be intentional about having special mommy time.
This is two-sided, meaning you need time for yourself, and then each of your children need alone time with you. For some of us that means we must schedule it so that nothing hinders us or distracts us from doing it.
Give yourself extra time before going anywhere.
I am not that great at being places on time, although it is always my goal to do so out of respect for those I am meeting. With the more children we have, the more time we must give ourselves when planning to leave the house.
Help each child adjust to the next sibling by letting them help as much as possible.
Kids need to be trusted with responsibilities. Don’t assume they are too small or incapable to help out. This one may require more patience as everything in you tries to be efficient and quick so that you can tend to multiple things throughout the day, however the training of each child to help out is vital for how they mature into helping adults.
Make snuggle time in the morning with kids a priority.
You can set the time on this as your day permits. The encouragement here is not to start the day feeling overwhelmed with to-do-lists, but rather being an intentional mom who knows one of her biggest priorities is loving her children well!
Remember that your strengths are found in God and His grace is abounding, new every morning!
Don’t rely on yourself to care for, train, and love your children. Doing so will leave you feeling completely drained. Find confidence in inviting The Lord to help you through each and every day. One practical way of doing this is by praying for you, your husband and your children throughout the day.
Keep a cookbook holder on your counter.
A friend of mine said that with her second child, finding time to spend in God’s Word became a challenge. She bought a cookbook holder and placed her Bible open on it, where it continues to sit on her kitchen counter, reminding her daily to dive in to the one place that will positively provide the strength needed to mother.
