Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there, and a special shout out to those in the newborn trenches with me. I recently let AGOMYR in on the little secret that motherhood is not for the faint of heart.  So with that, dear readers, and mothers, here is some inspiration:

Design Mom just posted the most beautiful letter from her mother, and this stood out to me. And by stood out to me, I, of course, mean made my weep ugly, hormonal tears:

I believe, when the day comes and you are forced to lead a simpler life, that you will be pleased that you spent so much time with your children when you had the chance…..I couldn’t have smiled in their faces enough. Touched them. Sat too close. Rubbed backs enough. Listened to and admired the (music) practicing.

Elise posted a great pep talk on Instagram that I made sure to hang on to:

This is just a season.

I was recently looking for an old blog post and I came upon the ones from right before Paul got home from his first deployment. I was SHOCKED to remember that he was gone for nearly 7 months.

seven months?!? what? I remember it was tough but not THAT tough.

in late January of that deployment year, I went to a yoga class and the teacher came around and massaged our shoulders towards the end. I remember tearing up a bit – it was the first time I had been touched by another person in about a month.

I am currently doing the opposite and living in a season of overwhelming touch. often I’ll be nursing Piper while Ellerie climbs on top of me. the extreme physical-ness of early motherhood can be draining and exhausting.

but like that deployment, this is just a season. it feels long and hard but it will pass.

years, disguised as moments, from now I’ll look back and say, “I thought that was tough?”

And then, of course, there are Amy Poehler’s words (from Yes, Please) that strike me even harder over the head now that I’m a mom.  It’s so hard not to compare your baby to everyone else’s.  Or your mom skills, for that matter, But that’s a slippery slope, and it’s not worth it at all.  Instead, you simply repeat:

“Good for her! Not for me. That is the motto women should constantly repeat over and over again.”

*photos from our newborn session with Claire Harvey.  She’s amazing.