It is crazy to think that my Peanut is 9-months-old already! I feel like some days drag on forever, but the months have gone by without me even noticing. He has grown and changed so much in that time, and I feel like I have changed nearly as much. There are so many things about myself and my life that are different now than I would have expected. People say that you can’t really plan for how having a baby will change your family, and I now understand what they all tried to tell me.

Here are nine things that I have learned in my nine months of motherhood.

1. Being a parent is just as hard as everyone tells you that it will be, and so much better than you can possibly imagine.

   • I recently wrote this in a baby shower book for our cousin. It was just what came out at the time, but I really think that it sums up my feelings about being a new parent. Being a parent is hard – everyone tries to tell you that. Once you experience it for yourself, it is unlike anything that you could have imagined before your child was born. All of the struggles that we go through on a daily basis are nothing compared to the joy of the smile on a baby’s face when mama or dada walks into the room.

2. Having a baby really does change everything.

   • I know it’s cheesy, but my mind always goes back to the Johnson and Johnson commercial that says “having a baby changes everything.” I knew that he would change our home, our time, and your daily lives. What I didn’t think about was how much having a baby would change me. Everything that I do and think about everyday is just a little bit different than it was before.

3. My family is priority number one.

   • Let me just add one thing here – God and my family are my number one priorities. This is something that has always been true for me. Now, it goes just one level deeper. I have my very own family to stake claim to. My husband and my son come first, and anything that I am excited for is even more exciting if I can share it with them.

4. Getting a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is underrated.

   • My son has slept through the night for a while now, and I am so very thankful for that! However, more often than not he will wake up for just a minute or cry out in his sleep. We are all able to go back to sleep right after, but the little interruptions do mess with my sleep cycles.

5. There is a big difference between anxiety and worrying.

   • I have never been a worrier. I am the queen of efficiency and worrying is not efficient – it is wasting time thinking about things that you have no control over. Since my son was born, I have had a lot of anxiety. I get overwhelmed easily, and I have trouble calming down sometimes. There are things that I can do to help keep the anxiety under control, but unlike worrying, I can’t just tell myself not to feel anxious.

6. I was not as calm as I thought that I was.

   • I always prided myself on being calm, level-headed, and flexible. These are the traits that made me a great stage manager! Now that I have to do everything on baby-time, my calmness has been taken to a whole new level. I am so much better at not letting things bother me than I used to be. I have very much had to let go of control over most situations.

7. Babies do what they want, when they want.

   • Routines, milestones, schedules – all of those things are nice guidelines. It is important to remember that babies have their own plans for everything. They are little people with their own feelings and agendas. Somedays are smooth and other days getting things done is just a nightmare. This is where letting go of control comes into play!

8. My house is just fine if it gets a little dirty.

   • Having a dirty or messy house stresses me out! This is definitely still true…however, I have a lot less time now to keep things clean. I have had to adjust my level of cleanliness to fit our new schedule and priorities. Things are usually a little dirty, but that’s ok. I would rather spend time with my Peanut than keep up with the housework.

9. It’s ok to know your limits.

   • This is something that has been hard for me! I am the type of person who wants to do it all and do it all well. I recently had to turn down a job that I was really looking forward to because I knew that it would take too much time away from my family. I felt terrible, but the woman that I was planning to work with was beyond understanding! It is not fair to yourself or your family to take on more than you want to.

I want to hear from you – what is the biggest thing that you have learned from being a parent? Big or small, drop it in the comments below.

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