Watching them grow…

This is a post I wrote almost 4 years ago… and I think about what a “baby” mom I was, haha!

I didn’t have a CLUE what it was going to be like to be a mom… but I was going to do everything I could to make the best decisions for her. Now, I’m a mom of two and I just have to laugh at how much life has changed.

Aidalyn is 5 and is still independent… but she loves being a big sister and she always wants to do the right thing. I love her spirit and the joy she brings.

I hope you enjoy my flashback on this #FlashbackThursday 🙂

My daughter…

is full of life, talkative, curious, stubborn… She is a mess.

I love my little girl. My life is a complete 180 since her birth. Before her birth, I was working full time as a speech therapist in a nursing home, waking up at 4:30am to go workout 5 days a week. I only thought about myself… my life was very predictable.

Now, I’m more of a stay at home mom than a working mom by any means, I am lucky if I make it to the gym at all. And I am thinking about her all the time.

I have learned so much about trust and love from her. There is just so much that you can do as their parent, but they are going to have to make decisions for themselves one day. My goal as her mom is to teach her from an early age that God loves her, and cares for her.

I have said this before that our children are on loan to us. We, as followers of Christ, have been given the responsibility to raise our children in the way that God would want, to follow him.

I am supposed to raise children who are growing into functioning human beings. Parents are the first picture that our children have as to who God is. Children need to be able to love and trust their parents. They learn to follow their parents’ instructions. This prepares them for when God gives them directions, they are ready to follow him.

My goal isn’t to have the most well behaved children, it ultimately is to have children who are ready to follow God.

I read that your children are leaving you from the day they are born… You are having to let go a little each day. That is very true… as I see my 15 month old at the park not wanting to hold my hand and wanting to walk on a different path than me… (Miss Independent) I see a 15 year old in her not wanting to listen to my guidance in a few years. I would have never thought about a baby so young wanting to be her own person already and making decisions for herself – crazy!

She honestly has been “Miss Independent” from day 1. I shouldn’t be surprised. She never wanted to be rocked, she wanted to be put in her crib be left alone. Which as a first time mom, I wasn’t expecting a child this independent…

I knew that “Tabula Rasa” (being born with a blank slate) wasn’t something that I believed in, but I wasn’t thinking there was much will in that new born baby – boy was I wrong! I learned a lot of lessons about not forcing your baby to conform to your ideas of what you think a baby should be like…

So, we are going to do the best that we can as parents in raising her, but in the end of the day – we are going to have to let go and let her make mistakes along the way. The way that she turns out is due to the decisions that she makes.

Wow, parenthood is starting to get hard.

What were some things you learned in your first years of parenting?