RE: The best motherhood advice, ever.

“I really loved Glennon Melton’s piece titled “Don’t Carpe Diem.” But, as my older kids grow before my eyes (our oldest is going off to college next year?!?!), the more I want to carpe diem. That doesn’t mean that I don’t lose my cool and have moments where I feel totally overwhelmed - but I try to remind myself that we get our children as babies for an incredibly short period of time, and as toddlers and little kiddos for a blink in the span of their life. Time goes so fast. So darn fast. too fast. And the only way I know how to slow it all down is to be in the moment. Even if that means in line at Target.”

“The best advice I’ve received about motherhood is that it’s hard! I went into motherhood expecting a challenge, and haven’t been disappointed.”

“When Colin was a newborn, my mother really drilled in the value of sleep, which I took to heart. I ignored dishes, laundry, and everything to power nap whenever and wherever I could. Which often meant napping sitting up with Colin cradled in my arms. But the really valuable advice was from my best friend. I was stressing out about whether to drink coffee or have a beer or what to eat because I was obsessing that everything I did would affect the baby’s mood or whether he would sleep or cry. She told me to “begin as I mean to go” which meant I should live my life and not make all kinds of changes that would then be unsustainable for me later on. In short she made me realize that the baby would adapt and grow into my life and I had to be flexible enough to roll with that and not sweat the small stuff.”

“Relax your goals a bit and don’t be so hard on yourself. Seeing how I tried to not only exclusively breastfeed longer and make all organic homemade meals with running a business and waking up several times a night, she pushed me to be much easier on myself, like, it’s OK if they eat from an organic pouch:-)”

“Do what’s right for you!”