Countdown to motherhood guest post: Katya Camp

(He's much, MUCH older but this is just the best picture)

So, funny story about Ayden. He will be a year old on Oct 16. I am convinced that little kids, especially toddlers, know instinctively which button to push in order to cause the most damage to whatever electronic device you happen to be using. Time and time again, this sweet little mischeif maker has deleted facebook posts, sent unfinished e-mails, clicked on inappropriate ads on the side of the page, called random strangers, or hit redial and called grandma, daddy, and various violin students. He is also an expert at turning on the xbox, selecting Netflix, and turning on Yo Gabba Gabba, even occasionally turning off the show mommy is watching first. :)

One day, Ayden crawled off to the bedroom by himself without me noticing. I was in the kitchen doing dishes. I heard the TV and xbox turn on and then heard the opening music for Halo. I thought my husband must have come home without my noticing, so I went into the bedroom to say hi. There was Ayden, sitting on the bed looking up at the TV with an xbox controller in his hand, fiddling around on the Halo menu. When he saw me, he looked up as if to say, "What? That's what this thing is for, isn't it?" I laughed so hard, I thought I was going to be sick!

Now every time daddy is playing games, he has to take the battery pack out of one of the controllers so little dude can "play" along with him. :)

It always amazes me how fast Ayden learns things. I think most kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. Scary smart, sometimes!

Countdown to motherhood guest post: Jessica McCormick

(Brett helping his mom with his little brother Jordan)

I've been thinking about what I would want to say for a couple days because i've only been a mother for two and a half years and already there is so much you learn. I'm just getting into the potty training fun and I just learned something new about my son. Brett is attached to his poop and tried to grab it out of the toilet when I tried to flush it. A new lesson i'm so happy to teach him. Hehe. 

From the moment I had Brett in my arms after he was born, my life was immediatly changed forever in the most amazing way. But the most touching moment in my life was Sept. 23 2011. I was pregnant with Jordan and Brett was a little over 1. We were sealed together as a family for eternity in the temple. Right when they brought Brett into the sealing room he looked at me with this smile on his face and touched my cheek as if he knew what was happening (which I'm sure he did), and it melted my heart and I knew we'd be together forever. 

Now, every day when I walk into the room and my kids faces light up with a smile, it reminds me of that special day and that we're forever. It also makes it harder for me to be mad at them and adds to the patience I need to talk to them calmly. Like the other day when I found Brett in Jordan's bassinet while Jordan was trying to sleep. 

I think the most important lesson that i've learned so far is to let things go, it happens. Things can be fixed and cleaned and picked up, you only have your baby for a little while and they grow up too fast to sweat the small stuff.

I would also definitely recommend the book "Baby Wise" by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam. It helped me get Jordan to sleep and eat better than I did with Brett. Jordan was sleeping through the night by 3 months. Enough said! 

Jessica mentions a temple and eternal families in her post. If you're interested in learning more about Latter-Day Saint (Mormon) temples and what goes on there, please click here and here. 

Countdown to Motherhood Guest Blog: MaryAnn Johnson (Mom)

(Mary Ann and her grandson Benji)

I never thought much about being a mother. I mean you grew up, got married and had kids. Everyone did it; everyone that I knew anyway and they didn’t seem to make much of a big deal about it. But it is a BIG deal. I had so much to learn about being a mother.

It doesn’t come naturally to everyone.

It isn’t always a piece of cake.

Sometimes it is overwhelming.

You often do not know what to do next.

If you just keep at it, it will be the very best thing you ever do!!

I would do it over again even though there were some very hard times. 

Now I am in my sixties and I look back with fondness. I look at pictures of my sweet children and I am sure that I did not see how wonderful they were then, not clearly enough anyway. It is so easy to get caught up in the work of being a mother that you forget to pay attention to the joys of being a mother.

(Mary Ann's "babies" from left to right: Jodie, Seth, Jenny, Marie, Andrew, Barry, and Kate)

Here are just a few things that I would do differently if I had it to do over again: 

I would realize that hearing a child call “mom” is a magical sound even if they say it 100 times a day. The time will come when you will miss it!

I would cherish every wet and sloppy kiss because no matter how many you get they will never be enough! You will want more of them long after your child is grown.

A clean house is not more important than a sweet relationship with your child. Messy bedrooms eventually disappear and so does the child – into adult hood – and then all you have left is a perennially empty and clean room and hopefully a child who wants to come home on occasion and fill it back up.

Conversations with a child are amazing, if you take the time to listen.

A child’s laughter and joy is contagious if you are paying attention. Catch it because it is great.

Being the care taker of another persons learning and personal growth is an amazing stewardship and is worth all the time and effort it takes to do it with kindness and gentleness.

The huge reward for raising a child well is another adult friend and grand children! Now that I am a grandmother I have learned most of these things. Moving at a slower and gentler pace is what grandparents do and so we see a bit more clearly and we enjoy a bit more deeply. Any mother who is clear on the importance of being a mother and is willing to make it her number one priority for a short while can have these things long before she is a grandmother. 

It is truly a short time so enjoy it.

Countdown to Motherhood Guest Post: Andrea Perkins

(Here is my sweet boy, Peter, after just waking up one morning since weaning. 

It just goes to show that when they're little, they love you no matter what!)

For two years I nursed my son Peter. Then it came time to think about weaning him. My husband was ready, and I'd just gotten pregnant with our next baby, so it seemed to be time. But I wasn't sure how I felt about it, and was worried over whether Peter was ready. Then, a month or two into my pregnancy, I was suddenly done. I was annoyed with having to nurse him to sleep all the time, and through the night as I'd been doing for the past two years. They'd been good years, and I didn't regret it, but suddenly I just couldn't handle it anymore. So we moved into cold turkey weaning.

It was awful.

My poor son didn't know what hit him. He didn't really have another way to help himself go to sleep, though we'd been trying to be consistent about his bedtime routine and playing music each night as he nursed to sleep to see if that would help. It didn't. He suddenly started freaking out any time he heard the music turn on, and where I'd used to nurse him to sleep lying down on his bed with him, he suddenly wouldn't have it.

There was a lot of sleeplessness and misery that first week, but somehow, quite certainly with the most thanks to my wonderful husband, we got through, and eventually found a new routine to get him to fall asleep rocking in our arms. Dad took over getting him to sleep at night, and we experienced our first several nights of completely uninterrupted sleep. It was so much better than I ever knew it could be! He didn't consistently sleep through the night however. Oftentimes he'd wake up and I took over night-time duty, insisting on just laying by him in his bed to get him to fall back to sleep instead of rocking him every time. It worked, with some tears, and things were going well.

Then Autumn came to Utah full-force, with temperatures dropping as a rainstorm blew over the mountains. We went about our bedtime routine as usual, making sure there were warm blankets for all of us. The problem was, Peter had never liked blankets. He kicked them off every time. So in the middle of the night he woke up crying and screaming, and when I went to lay by him I found his hands and feet were freezing cold! With a rush of fierce mothering love I immediately brought him into bed with my husband and I for the rest of the night. He slept peacefully the rest of the time.

I felt so bad about those little hands! 

My feelings as I brought him back to bed with us were that I wanted him with us there still. Maybe not quite in bed with us, since there really wasn't room anymore, but pulled up close on the side in a side-carred crib or something. I realized that during the weaning I'd been putting on some "tough love," and that while it had worked out and been necessary, it had hardened me against him a little. I don't want that! I want to love and be close to my kids. I want to always be warm, gentle, and cuddly. I know that can't always be, but I hope I can figure out how to do weaning and everything else more gently and gradually next time, so I don't have to put on a shell against my child. 

I've learned a little more about the mother I want to be, and I hope in the future I can do better, bit by bit.

Countdown to Motherhood Guest post: Marie Henry (Older Sister)

(From left to right" Aubrey, Parker, Kash, Marie holding Matilda, 

Kash's nephew, Ashley and Lizzy)

I am a mother of 5 children. My four oldest are from my first marriage of 12 years and the fifth is with my husband Kash.

I have had two very different experiences with being a mother, having had two marriages.

With my first husband it wasn't at all what I thought it would be. I knew I always wanted to be a mother, so I wondered what was wrong with me and why I didn’t like it so much. I hated admitting that to myself, as it made me feel like a bad mother but the truth is, at the time, I didn’t.

Of course there were many sweet moments and memories but in the end, I would go to bed stressed and angry and wake up still stressed and angry. Partially because of the normal stresses that come with being a mom of small children but also because of a hard marriage.

Overall though, Heavenly Father really blessed my children as i prayed daily he would watch out for them and protect them from my mistakes. They are great children!!!!

Now that I am married to Kash, I have absolutely loved being a mother. 

I often wonder what it would have been like in the early years of parenting if I was married to Kash but of course I will never know.

Not being in a stressful marriage has made being a parent soooo different. I now can deal with just being a mom and Kash and I work well together. He is a great parent and is always calm so that is a big help. 

I have learned two major things with being a mom.

One is to be consistent.

I know that is something we have all heard a million times but oh my goodness it makes a difference.

In my first marriage, being tired and emotionally stressed made it easy to just give in. That caused a lot of unnecessary heartache for my kids and me.

Kash is 100% consistent and man that has made a difference in our home. Now our kids know the rules and that they will not change. We rarely have issues and when we do there are already consequences in place.

Number two is to pick your battles.

I for one hate dirty bedrooms. I want to be able to go into my kids room at night and check on them and not break my ankle do to the hazardous terrain. So that is a battle I do fight.

One battle I am not willing to fight is what my kids pick to wear. 

There are a few rules but besides that it is up to them. They get to go out the door not matching if they like and believe me they do ALL THE TIME. I do teach them how to put things together so when they decide it’s important they know what to do.

My son is the worst; in fact, this morning he picked shorts and a long sleeve shirt. I just walked out of his room giggling. I figure my children don't get much control over their lives right now so I want to give them a few things they can control.

Parenting has so many different stages depending on the age of your kids. 

I have learned it gets better with time and frankly, I get better as I age. 

Right now things are pretty calm for us. We have an almost 13 year old, 10, 8, 4 and 8 months. The three oldest are very helpful with the two youngest and they actually love helping. 

It is so different now then from when I had three 4 and under. We will see how it is when we have three teenage girls at the same time. It will help having a level headed husband who is a quick thinker and, like I said before, calm.

I am so very grateful for all the experiences I have had and for the changes that have come into my life so I can better enjoy being a mother!

Countdown to Motherhood

Hi there!

You know, one thing I love about a move is it requires you to re-look through boxes you haven't opened in quite awhile. It's almost like a treasure hunt because you forget about most of the things you've put in there.

A couple of days ago I found a book that my sister, Jodie, had given me at the beginning of my pregnancy. It's called The Mother in Me.

It is a beautiful book on growing into motherhood, and its purpose is to "celebrate this season, to illustrate its unique challenges and delights, to reveal its deep significance."

Something my sister wrote to me inside the cover has got me thinking:

"Dearest Kate,
      I'm so happy that you are becoming a Mother. It's the greatest gift we give to the world... I hope you enjoy these stories, successes, and sorrows of other mothers. Just know that you are never alone. God and the mothers that go before you will help you. Happy Birthday. I love you. - JP"

"The mothers that go before you will help you." Although it has been such a comfort to me to read these women's thoughts, the past couple of days I've been thinking that hearing the stories, successes, and sorrows of the mothers in my own life would be even more powerful.

Motherhood is about transformation- it's something that you grow into rather than something that happens to you all at once. I'm still in the first stages of motherhood, so I can't yet comprehend the joy and nitty-grittyness of it all.

I've decided to surround myself with the stories of the mothers in my life that are farther along this delightful, arduous, exhilarating path each one of us has decided to walk on. I'm hoping that it will give me more courage than I've been feeling lately.

I'm calling it "Countdown to Motherhood" and every wednesday I plan to post the thoughts of family and friends until I finally have my baby... and maybe a few weeks after that so I have time to heal :)

Tomorrow is the first day and I hope you come back and join me in this journey.

Happy Monday!

34 weeks today!

That means only six weeks left. 

In reality, we only have three weeks until she's considered full term and able to safely come at any time.

Do you realize how short that is? Because we sure do!

That's only three more date nights.

Three more weekends, just the two of us.

Three more weeks of sleeping uninterrupted through the night...not including my midnight bathroom runs 

:) You get the idea. 

If you ask this mama though, baby girl is going to take her sweet, sweet time. I imagine she's going to choose to be fashionably late to the party, at least she is if she's anything like her ma and pop. 

For now, tardiness is fine with mom and dad because this is what her nursery looks like at the moment

Hmmm... where's that urge to nest when you need it?