Angelica, Meghan and I are all challenging ourselves to blog every day during the month of May.  We are hoping you can join in too!  Today’s prompt: What are you learning?

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and the fifth year of celebrating being a mother myself.  I guess sixth if you count when Lou was a bun in the oven.  I remember when we found out we were pregnant with Louis.  It was so exciting and so scary at the same time.  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, just that we were going to try really hard and love even harder.

I think we’ve done pretty well so far with Lou.  He’s really a very sweet, polite, well rounded kiddo.  But we’ve had our struggles with him.  Being a mother has been nothing but a long line of learning experiences.

Being Louis’ Momma, I am learning…

• Humility.  Being able to admit when I’m wrong more easily than before.  Being able to ask for help without feeling so defeated.

• Patience.  When it would be so much easier to freak out right alongside Louis during one of his bouts of stubbornness, I’m learning what it takes to think before I react and help him through the situation, rather than further down the wrong path.

• Trust.  I can’t be around Louis his whole life, every single second.  I have to learn to trust him and his abilities..as much as I need to learn to trust other people around him.  I can’t live in fear of the “what ifs”, it’s not healthy.  And it won’t help Louis in the long run to always be afraid.  He needs to make his own mistakes, his own choices and celebrate his own victories.  And if making strained versions of a smile in photos is what he wants to do at the moment, no matter how frustrating…we have to trust that it’s his own way of figuring things out and he’ll get through to the other side just fine.

• Comedic Timing. Okay.  So maybe comedic timing for young children.  Slapstick humor and fart jokes are hysterical in our household.

• To Have Thicker Skin. Did you know that everyone has their own opinion about raising children?  To. a. freaking. fault. they do.  It’s obnoxious.  But we are working our hardest to smile, nod our heads, not get upset about the unsolicited advice, and shake it off.  I am a very opinionated person, so this one tends to be a hard one to work past.

• To Love. Beyond my wildest dreams.  I didn’t know my heart could ache the way it does, in a positive way.  Watching another human start from scratch and to see the world through his eyes is amazing.

• To Dream.  Everyone has dreams for their children.  To be a doctor, a lawyer, etc.  Our only dream is that he finds something that makes him happy and is the best version of that happiness.  That sounds silly or cliche.  And it probably is.  But Bennett and I have taken non-traditional paths that our parents probably think are insane.  While they have voiced their concerns over the years, they’ve never told us to stop chasing our own dreams.  And I want to make sure Louis feels the same about his own future.

As much as we learn from our parents, our parents have learned from us.  Who knew parenting was such a mutual learning experience?

And Happy Mother’s Day, once again!  We had a lovely day and I can’t even begin to explain how much I loved having my Momma with us.  Hope your weekend was grand!