{"id":39565,"date":"2013-05-07T11:46:38","date_gmt":"2013-05-07T16:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=39565"},"modified":"2013-05-07T11:49:36","modified_gmt":"2013-05-07T16:49:36","slug":"5-things-i-wish-i-wouldve-known-about-motherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/5-things-i-wish-i-wouldve-known-about-motherhood\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things I Wish I Would\u2019ve Known About Motherhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mothers<\/a>Before I had children, I was an expert on parenting. Weren\u2019t we all? But in twelve years of motherhood I\u2019ve finally learned the one universal truth: we\u2019re all just faking it.<\/p>\n

Pinterest World is not reality.<\/b> Yes, we have \u201cpin worthy\u201d moments, but that is not our life. Did you hear me yelling at my kids last night? Feeding them Cheez-Its for breakfast? Febreezing the uniform shirt for Mass day? Saying, \u201cshake it off,\u201d instead of applying a bandaid? Recycling that 100-day project from kid to kid? THAT is my life. It\u2019s called survival.<\/p>\n

Let other mothers be your inspiration, not your comparison<\/b>. We spend our days trying to be better than every other mother we know. And, when we don\u2019t live up to it, we throw our hands up in the air and give up. In the early days, I struggled to get a shower and breakfast and found myself in awe of other moms I knew who seemed to have it all together, all while their eight children followed behind in perfect form. I\u2019ve learned to play up, to surround myself with holy moms who emulate traits I want to develop. In my darkest days as a mom, the best thing I can do is call a friend and get practical advice, not wallow in self-pity about my failures.<\/p>\n

Be the \u2018hell yeah\u2019 mom.<\/b> It is hard to turn down projects and playdates, nights out and class projects. For years, I worried that if I gave up the project or event that I had worked so hard to create it would cease to exist. How vain I was! It may or may not continue without you, but if you enjoyed your time doing it, there was no loss. As a wise mom recently shared over at 3 Things for Mom<\/a>, if your \u2018yes\u2019 isn\u2019t a \u2018hell yeah,\u2019 say no!<\/p>\n

Children don\u2019t take away your passions, you do.<\/b> Before I had children, I loved designing, decorating and making things pretty. Five kids came along and I pushed much of that to the backburner. When our youngest was born premature, it was my God moment. Life was automatically reprioritized and I finally realized I could jump on the train or cry at the station. I chose the adventure. I\u2019m learning to cultivate my own gifts and in doing so, it\u2019s helped me see the beauty of motherhood and weather her challenges.<\/p>\n

The small stuff really is the small stuff.<\/b> Here\u2019s a newsflash: the diaper genie is rubbish and so is that wipe warmer. Make your own baby food, or don\u2019t. Breastfeed for one month or two years. Co-sleep or crib sleep. None of it really matters.<\/i> The big stuff, that\u2019s where it\u2019s at, moms. I think it was at each of my children\u2019s baptisms that my role as a mother finally took root. When our youngest flirted with death, all I could think of was life. His life and the lives of my other children. It is the faith I pass along to my children, the way in which they treat others, how they care for the people they love and who they grow up to be\u2014that\u2019s what matters. In the end, it\u2019s the small things we do with faith, hope and love that take us into eternity.<\/p>\n

Happy Mother\u2019s Day!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I had children, I was an expert on parenting. Weren\u2019t we all? But in twelve years of motherhood I\u2019ve finally learned the one universal truth: we\u2019re all just faking it. Pinterest World is not reality. Yes, we have \u201cpin worthy\u201d moments, but that is not our life. Did you hear me yelling at my… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[127,959,748,1685],"class_list":{"0":"post-39565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"tag-children","8":"tag-motherhood","9":"tag-mothers-day","10":"tag-universal-truths","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46577,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/05\/big-enough-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":39565,"position":0},"title":"Big Enough for Us All","author":"Julia Motekaitis","date":"May 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 What an unbelievable gift we as women have been given, the potential to bear life. All throughout our lives we hold this gift within us, a stirring within our hearts, leading us to the sacrament of marriage where we play a part in the mysterious miracle which welcomes new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Me and Jonas 2011","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Me-and-Jonas-2011-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":257365,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/06\/review-discovering-feminine-genius\/","url_meta":{"origin":39565,"position":1},"title":"For Women Only… and A Little Bit for Men (Review: “Discovering the Feminine Genius”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"June 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I finally found a book about women's spirituality that is (a) not about single life and (b) one I like! That is a rare find. I read (and write) a lot about being a single Catholic woman. There's a market for it. There's also a need for materials that explore\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"circle of women","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2621843516_aaa5743876_o-630x420.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2621843516_aaa5743876_o-630x420.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2621843516_aaa5743876_o-630x420.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40315,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/06\/advice-for-a-young-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":39565,"position":2},"title":"advice for a young mother","author":"Lauren Gulde","date":"June 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The other night I went to a local eatery to meet up with some Catholic mommas. These ladies meet regularly at a local parish, to encourage each other in their motherhood and faith. We sat around the table at this elegant venue downtown. A raucous \"Salsa Night\" going on at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ACNM"","block_context":{"text":"ACNM","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"advice to a young mother","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/toayoungmother-528x700.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":109483,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/05\/youre-not-a-bad-mom-if-part-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":39565,"position":3},"title":"You’re Not a “Bad Mom” If You Don’t Breastfeed","author":"Britt Echtenkamp","date":"May 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I've only been a mom for about 4 months now, and I recognize that I'm definitely still in the newb phase of parenting. 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