The things I wish I could tell my almost-mama-self.

You know how intensely you think you will love your future babies, well multiply that by a thousand, and then by a million and that is how much you will really love them. You will love them so much at times, that your heart physically aches. All those times you thought you had your heart broken? They won’t compare.

That eight hours of sleep you tell people you need right now in order to function? Well, soon you will enjoy eight hours of sleep a week and you will somehow manage to know your name and to survive. One look into your babies sleepy eyes for the fifth time during one night will make that little sleep all worth while. Hang in there.

You know how you lotion up that big round belly every night and pray to God to keep the dreaded stretch marks from appearing on your skin….save your prayers honey, you will be asking for many more favors after you breast feed that baby for a year.

Remember when you “had” to paint your toe nails during that nesting stage of pregnancy; just “in case” your new born child got a view of your unruly toe nails and became psychologically scarred for life?? Trust me when I say it is not worth the strained back and sides just to sloppily cover your toes/feet with bright red polish. Besides, once that newborn arrives, and your stomach slowly starts to disappear, you wont have time to remove the botched polish job. Every time you look down at your toes after that fact, you will swear you walked through a recent blood bath. Talk about psychological damage.

You know how you dream about afternoons spent snuggling and reading books with babies piled high in your bed? Well, that does happen, but the laundry also piles high too. So, invest in an extra large washer and dryer. Bigger loads of laundry means it gets done faster and you can spend more time reading the same well loved story over and over and over again.

You know how you see little boys in grocery stores, spinning in circles with holes in their pants with little dirty knees sticking out and equally dirty finger nails, and you wonder why that frazzled mother hasn’t replaced those filthy pants and why she cant control her energetic boy? Well don’t stare too long, that mother is going to be you one day, on a few occasions, and you will long for an encouraging smile instead of a long quizzical stare. Offer a smile up Mama. You will feel better about it too. 🙂

Time flies once you have babies. Even that week before Christmas and your birthday that always use to take forever to live through, well that doesn’t happen after you have kids. Days blur into days and sometimes you wont know what day it is. 
Remember to take a few seconds out of each day to truly appreciating your babies at each challenging stage of baby-hood. Because, before you know it, the days will turn to months and than to years and before they are six, they wont need you for much. Sad truth, but someone had to tell you. Really enjoy your babies, time truly does fly by.

I know you have read every book about what to expect when you are pregnant, and you think you know best and you know what to expect when the time comes to birth that little kicking body out of your body. 
But, please, PLEASE, pick up a book about what to do in the first few weeks of life after you have that little one. 
You will be sleep deprived and emotional and you will have no freaking clue how to read a book about caring for a new born. I would start with knowing how to bathe a new baby. You will thank me when you have to plug your nose through their first diaper explosion while holding onto their slippery bodies.

Always kiss those babies goodnight. I know you think you will. You are already prepared to be the best mama ever! But, life happens and a new baby might keep you from spending good quality time with your older littles. 
A kiss can go a long way. A simple kiss can make your big babies feel safe in their beds and one simple kiss can help drift them off into sweet dream land, not to mention they will always remember the few times you didn’t kiss them goodnight. When they are even bigger than they are now and they dont want to be kissed to sleep, you will wish for the days when they cried for you to tuck them in for the fifth time in one evening.

Whatever you do, please never compare yourself to other mamas. You are you. There are other mamas you will see who seem to have it all together, and it wont take you long to want to be more like them. You will wonder why their kids listen the first time and why their house is spotless (even when you try to trick them by “dropping in” for an unannounced visit.) You will wonder why you don’t hear them hollering at their littles and how they are able whisper in a sing song way that draws their children’s attention in. You will wonder why you haven’t talked in a normal way in years, and why you are always hollering over the deafening noise that fills your house. 

Well STOP THAT Mama! Stop all of that Mama.

You are you, and you are the best Mama for your babies. 

They were matched to you and you are the only one in the world capable of loving them as deeply as you do. The only one who would pass up sleep to stare at the angelic face of your sleeping baby. The only one who can look at your Mama body with pride at the scars it now carries as proof of the journey it has endured to bring life into this world. You are the one who has gone without pampering because you would rather spend your time and your moula on your family. You are the one who has memorized favorite books along with every freckle on your child’s spindly arms from the hours you have held each other. You are the one who has sewed holes in clothing and kissed tiny dirty knees better. You are the one who has tucked children in like “tortillas”, the way you can only do, and you are the only one who can give butterfly kisses the way you do. Your kisses are treasured. You are the one who has continued to read every book that has ever been written on parenting; you do it out of love and have committed to changing for the better in order to be whatever your babies need you to be. 

You are perfect the way you are Mama. 

You will doubt yourself often, you will wonder if you are loving your babies enough, teaching your children the depths of kindness, letting them play too many video games, giving them too much attention, not giving them enough, and even, sometimes, you will question if they love you a fraction of the amount that you love them.

Don’t give up mama. Don’t compare yourself mama. You are trying your best and those babies know it. 

They know that nothing can compare to the way you unconditionally love and accept them. They show you with the special looks they give you in public, the hugs they give you at home and the way they need YOU, their mama, forever. 

This is the biggest journey of your life and the best adventure you will ever begin. 

The thing with being a mama? The adventure never ends. Those babies, your babies, are always with you. No matter where they go or for how long they are away. 

Enjoy the adventure sweet mama, and enjoy today. 

Happy Mothers Day!

With Love, Your babies future Mama.