The Mom Club

 I want to dedicate this post to all the moms, 1st time moms, and moms to be. 

After I found out I was pregnant it was like I was immediately  inducted into an elite group called "The Mom Club." It was amazing, it is amazing! I have gotten a chance to meet new moms, connect with old mom friends, and help soon to be moms. It's a kind of camaraderie that you just feel like you're never alone and I want to say thank you to all the moms that help me, encourage me, share their stories and give me advice! I may not have used all the advice but it's definitely in my mom bag for next time around!

As I was thinking back on this year I just wanted to share a couple things I have learned from experiences. I guess you could called it Life Lessons from Bowden part 2.

1. Be wise in what you say to a New Mom

I remember this one time my husband and I were about to go into a very important meeting at a new place and we weren't able to get a sitter so we brought Bowden with us. Well, wouldn't you know it, he decides to fall and hit his mouth on the edge of a glass coffee table, right before we go in. Blood is literally spuing out, I couldn't tell if he needed stitches, lost a tooth, and it was so intense. Well the blood calms down but me I'm still shaken up. We tell the lady we are meeting with what happened, why we were late, and her response was that it's not gonna be the last time and to get use to it....I'm sorry but I will never get use to my son being in pain that was just the worse thing you could say to me. So here's my take, yes I'm a first time mom but let me experience it, I know more incidents will happen, I hope they don't but I just don't think you can plan for something horrible, that makes no sense. Bowden fell last night and hit  his nose on the edge of a tile step  and my heart still jumped out of my chest. From this experience I hope I never tell a new mom to get use to your child getting hurt, but I would say yes it does happen and it's unfortunate, nothing can prepare you for it, just pray God gives you the strength to handle it.

2. "Comparison is the death of Joy" -Mark Twain

I think this one might take me longer to grasp but I will be honest its been really hard to not compare Bowden to other babies his age this last year. It would be the tiniest thing that probably seems ridiculous, like when he's gonna crawl, get a tooth, talk, and the funny thing is after I would stress about it, usually the next week he was doing it! I have learned that in time he will get there and just enjoy the ride, why rob moments of joy and replace it with stress and comparison that's not fair to Bowden. He doesn't compare me (well not yet)

Our beach trip to Cali in July when Bowden took his first steps at Grammy and Grampys.

3. Let him try new things.
It's that natural instinct in me to protect Bowden, which is why Lance is the perfect balance to my world, cuz he is the adventurous one. I would  keep a close eye and parameter on Bowden 24/7 which in most cases I should but even if I was right by him I wouldn't let him try things.  Most moms are probably the opposite of me, but I'm learning! He is not gonna learn new things if I'm always hindering him to try.

The Newest member of our family we adopted..Linus

4. A life lived to the fullest
I think at first my schedule was completely ran by Bowden, which is understandable but after awhile I began compromise my schedule for his, when really I just needed to slowly fit him into my schedule so that my life doesn't become all about him but he lives life with me and Lance. There were times at first it was really hard for me to go on a date and leave him because I felt like he couldn't live without me but he always ended up being fine.

Well I'm sure there are more, but those are just some of the things I have learned this last year.