A New Life - Becoming a Mommy

My life completely changed on January 28th, 2011.  That is the wonderful day that my little girl came into the world, and I officially became a mommy!  Even though I knew my life would completely change when we had our little girl, I had no clue how much it would change! I recently decided that I need to start a blog to document all of these changes, the challenges, and most importantly, the joys of becoming a mommy.  So, that is what this blog will be about. 

I should have known just how much life would change when my little girl decided she did not want to come on her own, and was over a week late.  Not only was she induced, but she still was so stubborn that I was in labor for 30 hours.  Just when the doctor was ready to call it quits, and do a c-section, he discovered that our little girl was ready to enter the world.  Next thing I know, everyone starts moving fast, and the doctor says we have 5 minutes to see our family before he was delivering our little girl.  By the way, I will have to tell the story of how she was encouraged to come out on another posting, but lets just say it involved her great grandmother and m & m's. :)  At 11:40am, our little girl, Grace Elizabeth was born into our lives.  She was 7 lbs 12 oz and 22 in. long.  I remember feeling so overwhelmed and not prepared to be a mommy.  How in the world am I suppose to take care of this little girl?  I know I may be an assistant director at a preschool, but all my knowledge of children seemed to go out the window that day.  I realized that though I have taken care of many children in my life, I have never taken care of one who was just born.  I didn't even know what to do. 

Since that wonderful day, I have enjoyed the many ups and downs of becoming a mommy.  I absolutely love our little girl.  However, the anxiety that has come with being a mommy is overwhelming.  I am told by all, welcome to motherhood!  However, I am trying to not let the worry and anxiety get the best of me.  Believe me, more days than not, it does, but I am working very hard to not let this happen.  I seem to worry about everything.  Is Gracie getting enough to eat, is she sleeping enough, is she sleeping too much, what's that, I hear a little cough, when will her umbilical cord going to fall off, what do I do when it does, now that it's off, why is there still some blood left over... These are the thoughts that continually go through my head and many, many more.  However, there have been so many joys that I can't even speak of all of them.  I can't put into words my feelings the first time our little girl smiled at me, or even each time she still does smile at me.  I can't explain the feeling I get when she looks into my eyes and I can tell she already completely trusts me and looks to me for comfort.  The joy I receive when someone else is holding her, but I speak and she looks my way because she hears her mommy's voice.  These are just a few of the many joys of being Gracie's mommy.

Although I have had several struggles since becoming a mommy, I am so blessed with all the support I have received.  My husband is my greatest support.  He listens to me ramble on and on.  He listens when I worry, he listens when I laugh, he listens when I just need someone to talk to.  He is so amazing with our daughter.  I know he loves her so much and would do anything and everything for her and me.  Chris is definitely my backbone.  He tells me he will support me in any decision.  I can't explain the encouragement I feel from my wonderful husband.  My second support comes from both of our families.  Both sides have been so amazing.  Between that many phone calls I make to my mother each day, asking her if this is normal for a baby, or me falling apart on my mother-in-law, crying on her shoulder because I just feel like I have no clue what I am doing.  Everyone is so amazingly supportive.  I love how close both sides of our family are to one another and to us.  It is so great to have that support.  And of course, everyone is absolutely crazy about Gracie.  My third support comes from my friends.  I am so thankful for all of my friends, who I can call on and get advice at any time.  It has been so nice to go through this pregnancy and birth with a close friend who I not only work with, but someone I trust, that also had a little girl just a few months before Gracie.  Or friends who text me to just see how we are doing and check on me while on facebook.  I absolutely love my girls from work!  All of you have been so amazing and I can't even explain the support I receive from all of you now, and when I return to work!  It's funny how even when I am on maternity leave, I still manage to go by work at least once a week just to see the girls because I miss talking to them. 

Well, this has been quite a long post, I promise all of them will not be this long.  I am ending this post with a few pictures of our precious little girl! 

Gracie right after she was born!! :)

First Family Picture

Mommy and her girl :)

Gracie at 3 weeks

Gracie loves her daddy!!