Mom Thoughts

The learning curve has been steep when it comes to learning how to be a mom.  I thought I was ready and I thought I knew what to expect.  In some regards, I did.  But there have been many surprises along the way.  Here a just a few of the many things I have learned since becoming a mom:

You have to have more patience than you've ever had in your whole life.  I've always considered myself a patient person.  I think you have to have a certain amount of patience to be a teacher.  But I have had many a day when I've had to muster even more patience than I typically have.  Tending to two little babies' every need can be exhausting! 

When it's 2:30 in the morning and you are trying to get a very rambunctious baby back to sleep takes a lot of patience.  When two babies are screaming at you because it's 10 minutes until they eat their bottle and you just have to smile and sing "The Wheels on the Bus" (for the millionth time in a month), you have to have patience.  Sometimes it would be easier to just scream along with them, but I do my best to stay calm, remain patient and carry on.

I now have a new appreciation for the simple things in life.  I had no idea how time-consuming taking care of two babies would be on a daily (& nightly) basis.  Since Archer and Lyla take up so much of my time, I have a new appreciation for the simple things in life.  For instance, taking a shower is downright heavenly these days.  It's oftentimes the one instance in the day when I'm not holding someone or someone's not touching me.  I get a few minutes to myself and it's lovely.  There's usually two babies hanging out in the bathroom with me, but they're not in the shower.  When they start walking, who knows what will happen!  But for now, I love taking a shower.

The other day I took the babies to Target to get some formula.  Afterwards, they both fell asleep and I decided to get a hot chocolate and just drive around.  I drove around without any destination in mind and listened to my Macklemore cd.  (I can almost see Archer & Lyla rolling their eyes at me, right now.)  I loved every second of it.  Who knew hot chocolate, a car and a cd could bring me so much joy?!

Which leads me to...

I have a deep, undying love for drive-thrus nowadays.  
After wrangling two wiggly babies into car seats and packing all the crap they might possibly need in the car, the thought of having to get them out of the car sometimes seems incredibly daunting.  Then, if you are actually lucky enough to have both babies fall asleep AT THE SAME TIME (!), you really don't want to have to get out of the car.

That's were the beauty of drive-thrus come in.  I love them so very much.  I wish more places offered this service.  The thought of being able to get all my errands done without getting out of the car would be such a dream!  Unfortunately, fast food restaurants tend to be the leader in drive-thrus.  The teenagers who work at Andy's Frozen Custard might know my order by heart these days... 

My "mom body" doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. 

I was slightly terrified about what my body would look like after having twins.  I feared the worse, but am pretty content with how things panned out.  I have a gazillion stretch marks and some loose belly skin.  In fact, my belly resembles a wad of pizza dough.  And I have no idea how boobs so tiny can end up being so saggy, but that's what mine have managed to do.  But I can tuck away my saggy boobs and my pizza dough belly and look pretty decent wearing clothes.  After it's all said and done, I have a newfound appreciation for all my body has gone through.  It endured infertility treatments, lots of shots and tons of crazy medication.  Hundreds of blood draws and tests.  It housed two babies for 35 weeks.   It went through a crazy delivery and recovery.  It fed Lyla for 2 months and Archer for 6 months.  I am pretty darn happy to have the body that I have, knowing all it's done.     

Us moms are all just doing the best we can and figuring things out along the way.

I must admit, I used to be very judgy of moms before I became one.  I would look at kids hollering in stores and think to myself, "My kids will never do that."  But I've learned not to judge.  My kids have done that.  And I'm sure they'll do much worse.  Now I try to offer any mom or dad or grandma or anyone with a baby or kid an encouraging smile.  I know I sure appreciate those smiles when I get them.

I know I will continue to learn more and more about this whole motherhood thing as my babies grow up.  I look forward to it!