things I've learned about me since becoming a mom

Becoming a mom is a life changer.
Sounds like an obvious statement. Something that does not need to be said.
From the moment the test says “pregnant”, your body is not your own. You begin to grow a human that requires so much of their bodies, then you give birth to this human being and they take over from that day forward. It is both beautiful and exhausting. But it allows you to learn a lot about yourself.
These are the things I have learned about myself in 39 months of being pregnant and parenting.

• I can survive on significantly less sleep than I ever realized. I have never been the kind of person that sleeps until noon on days off, but I got a regular eight hours of sleep. Now, I can sleep for four hours and still function fully. I also now get up between 530-630am every morning at my own will, without either of my children prompting me. I’m a regular ol morning person now.
• I used to drink coffee for fun, because I felt like it was cute. Now, I drink a large DD caramel iced coffee every morning. Seriously. We live four miles from a DD and every morning, I get up, do the usual morning things, then drive to DD for my coffee before anyone wakes up. It may sound silly, but it starts my day and gives me something for me before everyone wakes up. It is no longer a cute little trend, it is a life necessity.
• I am better at multitasking than I ever realized. We as females are always somewhat better at multitasking than males. But I don’t think we realize our full potential until we become parents. I can send a text, cook dinner, hold a toddler, while talking to another toddler to keep him entertained. It is like a superpower.
• I like routine a lot more than I knew. I have always liked a plan, I like to know what is happening next. If we are going on a trip, I like to schedule it out to ensure that we do not miss or forget anything that we want to do. With my kids, it has only become more of a necessity. I like to know what our day includes, it is easier when they know what to prepare for next in their day. That is not to say that we don’t have days where things are completely different and there is no schedule. But for the most part, we do the same things each day.
• I value self care more than ever. I always enjoyed getting my hair and nails done, go shopping, you name it but I did not savor all the moments that I got to do those things so easily. I spent the beginning part of motherhood feeling guilty when I wanted to do something, when I would schedule anything away, anytime I thought of doing something for myself. It was not until recently, in this year, that I began to value self care. I now schedule time for myself to do things and while I am out doing these things – I savor it. I enjoy every moment and come home to my kids a happy, well taken care of me.
• Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of close friends. I didn’t plan girls night, go out with a group of friends and do things, etc. Another thing I learned this year is that a good group of women is key. I now strive to maintain friendships, whether with mom friends or friends without kids – I make sure to keep up with my friends, plan outings with them. I know how vital it is to have that village.
• I care a lot less about mess than I realized. I like to keep the house relatively clean. As you can read in a previous blog, I made a cleaning schedule to keep up with the maintenance of our house. BUT with that being said, if the kids tear apart the toys in their rooms or our living room – it will probably stay there for a few days. Sometimes the idea of cleaning up the toys just for the kids to dump them all back out sounds too tedious (and pointless) to bother. So I don’t and I’m okay with that.
• I used to need music or a tv on in the background of everything I did. Now I enjoy the silence. After the kids go down for a nap or once they have gone to bed I find myself sitting on the couch by myself, in silence. An hour will go by and I won’t even realize it is still silent until my husband asks me why I’m sitting in the silence. I enjoy it so much that I don’t even notice.

There are plenty more things that I have realized about myself along the way but these are the most major ones so far. Motherhood is ever changing so I am sure there will be tons more along the way. What have you learned about yourself?
xoxo K