11 Things, 11 Months of Motherhood Taught Me

With Pollyanna turning one this month I thought I would reflect back on the past year

PICK YOUR BATTLES

Between myself and Adam, Adam is the more laid back one, I was laid back too until I had a baby. The number of times I would ask Adam to do something and I would find myself getting more annoyed by the second because he hadn’t done it right away or I would be mad because it was me rocking her to sleep again. I eventually learnt to keep my lips closed, it wasn’t worth starting an argument over, because soon enough she would be asleep and it would be our time – even if it was only 10 or 15 mineuts and that leads me onto my next one.

PATIENCE

I always thought I was a patient person, to begin with, but patience with another being, a being you brought into this world is something else. Patience when you’re desperate to go to sleep, patience when its 4 pm and you did not manage to feed yourself, patience when you’re giving your everything to get this baby to sleep and she just won’t settle.
Don’t get me wrong I am by no means the most patience person ever, I am growing day by day. I have learnt different ways to calm myself down or take a minute for me. She has taught me patience, and calmness too.

IF I’M AWAKE YOU’RE AWAKE

This is the funniest of them all and I could swear that I am not alone here. But if I was trying to get Pollyanna to sleep and I saw Adam falling asleep, I would get so upset that he was sleeping and I would be so envious. I would ask him to keep me company – which 80% of the time he did, I must say.

MUM LOVE IS LIKE NO OTHER

When I was pregnant I remember people would ask me “Do you love her so much already” and I never knew what to say. I loved her, but I hadn’t met her yet. That scared me, I remember worrying about post-natal depression and being scared that I may have that because I didn’t have all these feelings. But meeting my baby and holding my baby is like no other love I have ever experienced and for me that is when it hit me. Its different for us all and it grows every day with every experience, word spoken or something learnt.

IT WON’T MAKE YOU GET UP EARLIER

I love my sleep, and being self-employed working from home on this little site, meant that pre-baby I could get up at whatever time I like. I have always wanted to be an early riser and I thought that with a baby comes the early rises and I was quite looking forward to that, however, that didn’t happen. I bagged myself a baby that loves her sleep as much as me. In fact, even when we do get up I’d quite like to go back to bed still.

YOU CAN GO THROUGH ALL EMOTIONS IN ONE DAY

I could wake up the most positive person in the world, by lunchtime, I’ll be stressing because she won’t eat her food that I spent an hour cooking the day before, then I’ll worry because she isn’t eating. Then Adam will try and feed her and she’ll take it from him. Then I’ll want to cry becuase she was taking it for him and finally pull myself back together again by the evening. (this one was more in the early stages, but still happens occasionally.

DON’T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF

Probably what all Mum’s need to hear but I have learnt not to be so hard on myself. Every day doesn’t have to be perfect or go to plan, which I really struggled with.

YOU’LL COMPARE EVERYTHING

In this social media world, we live in, all you have to do is unlock your phone and open an app and be bombarded with peoples ‘everyday life’. I compared myself and my career all the time, mainly to those that didn’t have children and wondered why they were doing so well, and why I had zero motivation. I stopped looking at those accounts that made me feel that way and had to remind myself of the vastly different lives we all have and just becuase that person is doing something that way doesn’t make what I’m doing any less.

BEING ORGANISED IS EVERYTHING

I learnt this the hard way after a baby sensory class where Pollyanna had a vomit and bottom explosion and I didn’t have any spare clothes with me. I had mothers offering to give me their babies clothing and thats when you remember that were all in this together. I learnt to leave out her clothes the night before and always pack the bag before.

APRICIATE TIME

With Pollyanna approaching her first birthday in 12 days, time is of the essence. I have always been a fearer of time and comparison and people warned me that when you have a baby life goes by quicker and it really does. It’s another reason why I am trying to become more organised at home, photos and memories printed and scrapbooks created.

HOW TO ASK FOR HELP

This was a tough one for me because I hate asking for help and I naively thought I could work from home with Pollyanna. I have never been able to do that. I can just about send a few emails before she wants my undivided attention. It’s made me appreciate the difference between work and Pollyanna time though. She goes to her Nan’s twice a week allowing me to dedicate those days to work and when I’m with her, our time. Without asking for that help I wouldn’t be able to do that.

POLLYANNA’S OUTFIT

Velour Tacksuit, Matalan (gifted)
Nike Trainers, Sports Direct
Bow, eBay

MY OUTFIT

Velour Joggers, Matalan (gift)
Velour Jumper, Matalan (gift)
Trainers, Public Desire (gift)

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