Before we jump into today’s guest post I (um this is Kendra btw, just in case you’re a little confused) wanted to say a little hello and let ya know what’s going on.
Our sweet pea was born on April 30th!!!!!! He’s absolutely scrimptions and I can’t wait to introduce him to y’all! I’ll be checking in with a post from time to time “Meet Baby Brother” being one of those post but while I’m in my foggy newborn mama cave I thought it would be fun to have a few guest posting mamas!
I reached out on Instagram and asked if anyone would be interested in my little gust post project and had great response! I’m so excited
for you to see what they’ve come up with! They have some awesome post planned for you!
Sooooo while I’m getting my mom of 2 under 2 sea legs about me I sure you’ll enjoy the mama guest post series! Check back often. We’ll have 2 new post a week.
Okay now that that’s out of the way let’s meet Alicia…………….
Well Hello there! I’m Alicia and I’m super excited to be guest blogging over here at Kendra’s today! Just so you know a little about me, I’m a wife to an amazing guy. I’m a momma to a spunky, beautiful, animal loving tween girl, Caroline. I’m a photographer, crafter, DIY-er and lover of all things old or unique. I’m a slight coffee addict, but I only drink decaf…what? Anything pink makes me happy. I talk too much, hate laundry, love Jesus, live in the country and can’t live without Dr Pepper. Visit me anytime over at Murry Mayhem!
Since I’m a momma, I wanted to chat about momma stuff today. Being a mom is what I know best. It’s what I’ve learned the most about in the last 13 years. I’m definitely not an expert, but I can tell you what works for our family.
You find out your pregnant, go through all of those emotions and then you dream. Dream about your little bundle of joy, what they’ll look like, how you’ll style their nursery, how wonderful it will be the day they’re born. You think about birthdays and holidays, your hopes and dreams for them. It’s scary and blissful all at once.
I wasn’t completely blind going into motherhood. I knew that things wouldn’t always be the way I pictured them. But there were certain things that I thought would be easy peasy, only they haven’t been quite so easy. You think, “I’m the adult. I can handle what this kid throws at me”. That’s about the time that you really realize this little person has a mind of their own.
I have no clue why I thought she would always love big bows in her hair. I thought, “She’ll wear cute bows and matching outfits, she’ll love them!”. I have a stash of bows for sale. Anyone? I’ve got tons. At the age of 9, she protested. I kept thinking this wouldn’t happen for years. I was wrong. And her clothes are the same way. No more cute-sy outfits that I ordered from Etsy. I learned that these were not battles worth fighting in the morning. I gave up. If she wants to look like Punky Brewster, then, you go girl.
Truth: On school mornings, I’ve given up fighting about what she wears, or what her hair looks like. I’ve sent in her dirty clothes on more than one occasion. Hey, if she insists on wearing something that hasn’t been washed yet, that’s her choice. I make sure she’s bathed and has on clean undies. That’s as good as it gets. And do you know how my mornings are regarding clothes and hair? Blissful.
When it was time to introduce solid foods, I thought about how picky I am {or was at the time} and knew I didn’t want that for Caroline. I made her try her everything. Sadly, for a while dog food was her favorite snack, but that’s a story for another time. This kid shocked me so much, she never turned her nose up at anything. I realize that this isn’t the case for most, but that’s why it wasn’t what I was expecting. I knew most kids were picky eaters, I assumed mine would be the same way.
Truth: On the rare occasion I don’t cook dinner, I let her have whatever she wants. She may or may not have had microwave mac ‘n cheese for dinner last night. Followed by 2 oreos.
I remember being so excited about celebrating the holidays with her. Being Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, I had big plans. I knew that one day all the fun would end and she would know that we handle all those roles. I figured I had about 10 years, if I was lucky, as long as other kiddos hadn’t given the secret away. Caroline is such a bright little thing, and no, I’m not just saying that because I’m her momma. She really is super smart, not much gets past her. Which is why at over 12 years old, it floors me that she is still totally clueless.
Truth: I sort of let the cat out the bag over Easter. Not exactly on purpose. She was at her dad’s for Easter and I made the mistake of asking what the Easter Bunny brought her. Apparently the Easter Bunny didn’t leave his goodies at her dad’s house, he supposedly left them at our house. Oops. Needless to say, I had to explain. Really though, it’s better this way. I was tired of ‘shushing’ people when they were about to say that ‘so and so’ wasn’t real.
One thing I thought about a lot while I was pregnant was the ‘type’ of mom I envisioned being. I came up with the plan of just being real. Living life whatever way worked best for our family. I had certain ideas in my head and some worked and some didn’t. I knew I would dote on her, I knew I’d run to her rescue and I knew that I would have a hard time disciplining her. What I didn’t expect was how much I would do for her. Crazy huh? I didn’t realize I’d make sure every.little.thing had been turned in, no deadline missed. Even if that meant running to the school to turn something in for her, so she didn’t miss out or get a bad grade. Here’s the deal ya’ll. I’ve ruined her. She just waits for me to tell her what to do and if push comes to shove, she knows that mommy’ll take care of it.
Truth: I didn’t do it for her this time. Nope, I sure didn’t. She’s part of a school group whose mission is to help out in the community. They have to complete 10 service hours in order to go to the big pizza party at the end of the year. Her hours were due last week. She didn’t have enough. We had it all laid out, what activities she needed to get done. Most of these are things she didn’t need me to drive her to, she could do in our neighborhood or at our house. I reminded her about finishing her last few hours and told her to knock it out so she could turn her folder in, go to the party, and be proud of what she had done. Normally, I would have rushed and helped her spend the hour picking up trash, spent the hour to help her gather donations for Salvation Army, but not this time. I let her be in charge of her own timeline, and you know what? She didn’t do it. She flat out chose not to hustle and get it done. And for the first time, I didn’t run and do it for her. She had to learn the hard way on this one.
Bottom line. We all have an idea of what motherhood is to us. What we find out along the way is another story. We learn and grow in our parenting, just like our kiddos learn and grow. We all have those things we just don’t talk about in public and those, my friends, are our mommy truths.
I’ve also learned that we apparently take a lot of car selfies.
Connect with Alicia at these lovely places………..
What a great (guest) blog!!! I love it...
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