Lessons from Motherhood

My sweet friend Dawn at Dawn' s Diversions tagged me for Lessons from Motherhood. She doesn't get my 4 kids, Homeschooling & my desire for more babies. I mean seriously it's so simple?! LOL!!
Ok so here is my "Ode to Dawn" (and the rest of you out there who just don't understand)...
Ever since I was little I loved to teach & take care of children. When I was 4 or 5 I had a really cool play n show movie projector. I would charge the neighborhood kids to come over & watch. Not only did they pay, but they had to sit where I told them to & they had to answer questions concerning the slide show afterwards. I did this in the most loving way ; )
When I was older, I was always babysitting. When I moved to Dallas & had my first teaching job I was SUPER poor. I'm talking charge my groceries poor. Thank you Dad for supporting me during this low salary period of my life. To supplement my teaching income I nannied for a few families in my school. So picture this, not only did I work 8a-5p. We had an "after school program" - glorified daycare. I would take children home, make them dinner, get them ready for bed, put them to bed & then see them bright & early the next day?! It was great money & I LOVED the kiddos/families.
God uses these families as a part of my family education. I was a Family Relations Child Development major not straight Education. I really love to study family dynamics. My current family would make a great case study or reality T.V. show ; )
So fast forward to marriage, babies, ect.
When Bubba & I did our pre-marital counseling we discovered the reasons we wanted to marry.
Of course we loved each other, but if you had done this sort of counseling you know that there are deeper reasons why we marry. I was marrying to have babies & Bubba was marrying so he wouldn't be alone. We were PERFECT for each other! I could have all the babies I wanted & he would never be lonely...LOL!!!

Pre-Babies on our Honeymoon

Needless to say we were pregnant month 3 of our marriage! I was taking Depo shots for birth control. (never, I mean never take that drug!!! that's another post one day) My OBGYN believed that it would take me months to conceive. Ummmm no, it only took a few weeks ; )
So here we are thrilled & petrified all at the same time. Great pregnancy, great c-section...awful maternity leave. I was depressed at the thought of leaving my baby. He had acid reflux & screamed after eating. I was breastfeeding & his head was so sunken in our friends called him "alien baby". Once I gave up breastfeeding & put J1 in his car seat to sleep we were in heaven!!!
I didn't really have much to complain about. He slept 8p-7a pretty much from the get go.
He was happy, happy, happy (after acid reflux thing)! I charted his every move. At work, they joked I would use training posters/charts to potty train, ect. There was just this huge, dark cloud hanging over me.
Each time I would drop lil J off at our church daycare I would cry & cry. I hated the thought of him being there all day. My OBGYN put me on "happy pills". They didn't really work. I quit them cold turkey. I prayed. I talked to God. I kept getting one answer, "Quit your job Jen."
I didn't. I wrote my resignation letter & even went as far as talking to my H.R. director. They gave me a raise. I stayed.

Bubba trying to make me laugh before #2

So we were ready for baby 2. We planned it out & wanted them 2 yrs apart. We were close, they are 23 months apart. My work NO HAPPY for me to pregnant AGAIN. I traveled frequently as I managed three training teams & being pregnant put a "damper" on that piece of my job.

I was fired one week before my due date & I was having contractions from all the stress at work.


My Jboys

Hmmm - now why didn't I just listen before?!?
So before I write a novel let me just sum up what I have learned from motherhood this way...

~I learned I don't love my career more than being a mother. I really didn't know this before becoming a mom. I thought I would be miss career girl forever!!! I want to be the mom that is physically there for my children. Even if we go without some things it's worth it.
~My dysfunctional career was a cake walk compared to managing a household & children & family. Being a mother is NOT easy.
~I cry frequently. I'm emotional. I cry when I'm happy. Like when my son read his first 3 syllable word by himself. I cry when I'm overwhelmed from my 2 yr. old baby girl saying "mine, mine, mine, MINE" all day. (Remember the seagulls in Nemo?!?)
~Since we are human we are not perfect. Admit when you're wrong, your children know it anyway. Ask for their forgiveness when you mess up.
~Tell each of your children you love them at least 3 times per day & hug them 5 fives times per day. See "How to be a Hero to Your Kids".

~Discipline is not a life scarring event for your children. It is a life building event for your children. If you do not discipline parenting stinks, your kids are out of control & everyone is miserable. Discipline your kids!
~I love family. I love close knit, crazy, coo-coo family. My immediate family does not hold this belief so I plan to brainwash teach my children this love so we can all live very close to each other & have weekly family dinners.

~God uses your children to teach you life lessons you refused to learn when you were younger.
I just listened to some teaching on Miriam, again another post I'm working on, she was in her 90's & learned a very hard lesson. I so don't want to be in my 90's learning hard lessons. I'm learning Lord, I'm learning?!?

~ Schedules are your friend! Even if you do not stick to them per minute, having an outline of your day helps guide your day. Kids thrive in routines & so do mommies! : )

~I home school because I want just a little bit longer with my children's hearts! I'm not anti public or private school. I LOVE my freedom to home school. I love seeing that "ah-ha moment" when my children learn something new. We studied the Olympics this summer & made a lapbook. One activity was to chart the medals by country. It was a little bit over my kiddos level, however they learned countries, new sporting events & best of all, a love of learning new things. That's the most important part, I want them to have a love of learning! I'm not sure how long we will home school. I DO know that I will always look for fun ways to educate through the years.

~I'm not in control. This has been a very hard one for me. I mean don't get me wrong I put up a good front! However I understand that God has a plan & I must lay my children in His hands & seek His wisdom in my parenting role.
~ Every time I forget the note above & try to take control it blows up in my face ; )
~ I must love my babies' daddy.

~ Pray, Pray, Pray! Even if your faith is the size of a mustard seed prayer works! Matt 17:20
~ I must schedule my kiddos & I in the car 15mins prior to time we need to leave so that we are close to being on time!
~ Kiddos must have a home for their shoes or forget the getting into the car on time!

~When children are silent they are up to something that is usually not good.
~ Having boys before girls was emotionally easier for me.
~ The 4th child potty trains themselves.
And finally the most important motherhood lesson of all....

It's only for a season so I'm trying to enjoy it while it happens?!?