A Journey from Pregnancy to Motherhood

When I was pregnant with my first child I wanted to have everything ready for my daughter's arrival. Every article of clothing was washed and folded and placed neatly in her drawers. The bassinet was set up perfectly beside our bed. The carseat was installed in our vehicle well over a month before I was due. Stuffed animals were all on a hammock hung in one of the corners of the nursery. Bottles were all washed and nipples all sterilized and put away neatly in the kitchen. Diapers, wipes, baby lotions, and diaper creams were all organized in a cabinet next to the changing table. Looking back at how 'perfect' everything was then, now that I'm pregnant with my second child, makes me laugh and wonder what happened to the lady who wanted everything neat and in it's place? Where did she go? And will she ever come back?

Having a 15 month old daughter and being almost 4 months pregnant again really puts things in perspective for a mother. The things we once thought would never happen to us or things we used to say we'd never do when we became parents occur on a daily basis now without even thinking twice about them. For instance, a few things I was guilty of saying:

"I will never have two kids that are in diapers at the same time. I will wait to have a second or third child at least until their older sibling(s) are out of diapers and completely potty trained." Well that isn't happening...unless I win the Guiness Book of World Records for having the youngest potty trained child.

"I will not be a stay-at-home-mom. There's no way I'd ever have the patience to do that." I've been a stay-at-home-mom now for 15 months, and will be for at least another two years. The patience I'm working on...I think it's something that gets better with time.