My Motherhood Mantra

I was looking back through old photos to when Adelaide was nothing more than a couple of cells making me extremely tired and sick. And then when she was quite a bit bigger, causing all sorts of ligament pain and sleeplessness. And then the sleeplessness really set in when she made her debut as a tiny newborn. All while Lincoln learned how to walk and talk, while teething and pooping in the bath.

“Someone should really start marketing exercise balls to new moms,” I remember thinking as I bounced.

My darling girl who generally refused cuddling wouldn’t close her eyes unless she was being held. And bounced. And sung to.

It was sometime after 2 am. And I was tired. So tired.

And my mind wandered to those sleepless newborn nights. And then to Lincoln’s newest phrase that week. And I wondered what Adelaide would be like as a little two year old, a year and a half from now.

And I remembered, “this too shall pass.”

When things are hard and I don’t feel like I can keep going, I tell myself I can do anything for a day and “this too shall pass.” When I’m tempted to spend the afternoon scrolling away on my phone, I try to glance down at these babies and remember “this too shall pass.”

I want it posted above the sink so I can be reminded I won’t be washing bottles forever.

I have it posted on Adelaide’s wall as a reminder that the sleep regression, the morning babbles, the tiny fingers with their tightest grip, it will all pass.

And one day I will miss it. Because even now, I’d go through one sleepless newborn night to hold her as a tiny little thing again.