February is the month of love, but I want to deviate from the visions of romantic gestures and candlelight dinners for a moment. As moms, I feel that we need to fill that cup daily so that we can pour from it to everyone that’s counting on us. I have four beautiful children and each of their own, individual, unique souls brought me a different lesson and self love affirmations just at the right time as they grew into their own in this world. They’ve shaped and changed me as a person and taught me the most valuable lessons about loving myself more so I can love them.
You Got This
My oldest child is an independent, spirited girl. As new parents, we really didn’t realize how “easy” she was as a baby. She napped. She didn’t have colic. Motherhood was absolutely still an adjustment and there were sleepless nights and tough times, but overall everything felt under control. I was nervous about becoming a mother, but somehow this little one taught me that I could do the hard things. I could juggle work, home, family and even some of my own hobbies like distance running. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was exactly what I needed to build a little bit of confidence as a mom and she taught me that “you got this, momma.”
Slow Down
Next, our second child is a sweet, sensitive soul. We quickly dubbed her the “koala bear” because she always had to be curled up on my chest. I could not put her down…ever. She wanted to be held and held and held. I began to feel like I couldn’t stay on top of things at home and I realized that God gave me her to make me slow down. Sit with the baby. Hug the baby. Stop trying to go, go, go all the time. She taught me to “slow down, momma.”
Let Go
Our third child is a wild, loud, spirited little boy. He added just enough chaos to our home that we find ourselves somewhere in between laughing and crying a lot. He is such a little tornado and I find it so hard to keep some sort of order to the tidiness of our living space. Yet somehow, he manages to throw in something so cute and funny right when I think I’m at the end of keeping everything together that I just let go and I laugh back with him. Maybe he has me wrapped around his finger, but either way, he teaches me to “let go” a little.
Just Be
Lastly, our fourth child is a soft spirited, funny little boy. He joined our chaos and just settled in. He’s generally happy to just be part of the team. Nothing fancy needed. He’s used to being home a lot after being born in the pandemic. He’s happy to see one of his siblings come upstairs. He’s happy to see his dinner put down in front of him. He’s happy to see his family laugh. He’s happy to snuggle. He’s happy to go in the car. He’s happy to just be. He teaches me to “just be” wherever we are.
I often find myself drawing on these four different phrases at various times. Motherhood is tough and self love is tough too.
But remember this momma, you got this, you can always slow down, let go and just be in the moment when you need a little self care.
