Raising a tiny human is intimidating, no?
It starts when you see those little pink lines on the stick…ohmygoodness, we MADE a human. Now what?!
So, you start reading, and you keep reading. And you read some more. And you talk to people. And you hear stories. Good. Bad. Wonderful. Scary. Joyful. Ugly. And you pray. You pray every second you can for this little person you’ve never met.
Then the day comes when this perfect little baby burrito is placed into your arms and you want to do everything right, you want to be so great at this mama thing. But it’s hard. And it’s a lot of on-the-job training. You make mistakes. There’s tears. But, then there’s moments of total triumph. Every time you calm your baby, or get them to sleep it’s a little victory. And you fist-bump your spouse and silently cheer, because you’re doing it, and it’s working.
But just when you feel like you’re hitting your stride, and you can do this, like really own this mama role — your confidence takes a hit. Your eyes are opened to the world of babies and parents around you. Why is their baby doing “X” and my baby is doing “Y?” Am I doing something wrong? Why can’t I be that mom?
Stop. Take a deeeep breath.
What works for your baby, and family might not work for mine. And that’s cool. Rock it.
We need to hold on to our self-confidence when it comes to raising our little people. We’re all doing a very hard job, and we might all do it differently, but we’re doing it!
Celebrate the little victories. You’re doing a GREAT job. And so am I.
The Merfett 