Lessons learned from my first year of mommyhood

Lincoln's going to turn one in just a couple days and I am in awe at how much he has grown, developed, and learned over this past year. I am also in awe at how much I have grown and learned in my short time of being his mommy. I remember I thought I had it all figured out when I was pregnant with Lincoln and looking back I had nothing figured out, in fact I still don't! There are some lessons though that I learned through my experiences this year of being a mom. The things that I've learned are countless and they are lessons that I think every mom has to learn for herself but here are a few that were some of the biggest and hardest things to learn.

Trust my instincts. No one knows Lincoln better than I do. I can count on two hands how many hours I've been away from him since he was born (that's probably not healthy for me though). So when it comes to knowing his needs I really am the best resource. This Christmas Lincoln got really sick which ended in days of the worst diarrhea I have ever experienced. A diaper would last about 10 minutes before he totally filled it. As a result he had diaper rash that would make any human cry. I asked my sister in laws, friends, family, and advice nurses if they thought there was something more than diaper rash and everyone said it just needed desitin and it would be fine. I knew it was more though but I doubted my instincts. When I finally took him to the doctor we found out he had a yeast infection. After that I told myself that I would never doubt myself again and trust my instincts. There are mothers out there who are more weathered in this stuff than I am but that doesn't lessen what I know as a mother and my instincts. 

Trust my husband. When we first brought Lincoln home Daniel would do something that was totally different than what I would've done and I would get mad at him for it. Seriously, like full on argument about how Lincoln was swaddled. I thought that I knew the right way to do it and Daniel had no idea. I was wrong. Just like I have my mom instincts, Daniel has dad instincts and they were able to show because I gave him the chance to let them. Everyone jokes about fathers and how they don't know anything and I think that's a load of crap. As mothers we enable this because we don't allow them to be a parent and we don't trust in their parenting. It took me a while to realize what I was doing to Daniel when I was shooting him down for doing things differently than me but once I accepted it and moved on my job got easier and I wasn't so alone in parenting. 

Respect other parents parenting. I was really judgmental about how other moms would handle a situation because it was how I would've handled it. I would think they were bad parents and I was parent of the year. I was wrong. again. Just because something worked really well for Lincoln that doesn't mean it's the best way to handle the situation for other children. Every parent has their own battles with their children and every child is different. There isn't one blanket technique that is fool proof and sure to work. Having a baby the same time as so many family members and friends I often found myself silently judging them and feeling so superior. It was really disgusting. I remember that it eventually got to me so bad that I had a breakdown about how awful I was being. After I accepted this I was able to see other parent for the wonderful people that they are and understand that they are doing the best they can, just like me.

It's okay to have bad days. I'm not sure if this is a lesson I have really even learned yet. On good days I know that there are bad days and I'm okay with that but when the bad days come they're hard and it's really hard to remember that it's okay and a part of life.

90% of what is on pinterest is false. I would research parenting methods and ways to get my baby to sleep and what the best foods are for my baby. It made me feel so inadequate as a mother, that is until a realized most of the stuff on there was a bunch of crap and didn't pertain to me and Lincoln at all. I don't look at pinterest for anything involving parenting anymore.

There is so much more that I have learned this year but these are some of my biggest lessons. Being a parent has been the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done and i'm so grateful for my time with Lincoln this year and that I get to be his mommy for the rest of forever.