Before I was a mommy...

Mothers have wonderful stories to tell, and I enjoy the sharing by mommy bloggers, and draw inspiration from them all the time!

Here's a tag going around, and I can identify with a lot of what other moms have said about how things weren't quite the same before we got ourselves in the family way, and children came along. And having been tagged by Jomel, Nomadic Mom, and Bkworm, here's also to share with you from my own life, what it was like before (vs. after) I joined the esteemed (ahem!) ranks of motherhood/parenthood...

Before I was a mom...

I thought giving birth was really as easy as what my late mom made it out to be. But it took more than one, two, three pushes... and many more pushes later... to get Jon, and also Ben, out! Jon was 8lbs, and Ben tipped the scales just slightly more, at 8lbs 6oz. Me? I was only a 6lb baby! ;p (The husband was the nine-pounder, but he's managed to stay quite slim, despite my efforts to feed him well. My conclusion? Birth weight has nothing to do with adult weight, besides that he's doing a great job running after our two active boys! Haha!).

I didn't have tears welling up in my eyes at the slightest "awww" mother-and-child scene in a movie. Now, if I watch, read, or hear something that tugs at my heartstrings, I can almost feel the pain! No, I didn't realise how so intertwined the lives of a mother and child are. Not just for the low moments, but when my boys are happy, so am I! And I'm seeing too, more than before, that children would like to see their parents, happy, too!

Sure, there will always be naughty moments, and heartaches, and I'm always asking my boys, "Why can't you just obey, and do it the first time round?". But while we have to teach them this and that, there is still so much I myself do not know about parenting, and so much to learn. And so often, my own children are the ones who show me what my inadequacies are. I never knew parenting is such a life lesson in itself, always works in progress! For even when you think you've got it, the kids pull another fast one on you!

Some things were easier, like there was less decluttering, and less laundry to do, and I didn't think so hard about buying something for myself, when it was just the husband and me. Other stuff, like driving (and I was afraid to drive), seemed more daunting. But somehow, after kids, there's an 'unexplained' courage that comes, that makes me want to climb Mount Everest, to give our children my best! Of course, it could also be the survival instincts at work... the mother-hen fending for her young! ;p

No doubt, then, being a mom demands more, more than I knew it would take. I knew, and always still call it an awesome responsibility, but there's also so much love, over and above what I imagined, that I'm forever grateful for! I've always believed children are a blessing, just didn't know what a super huge one it is! Thank God for kids!

I'm a mommy... thankful, happy, and proud to be one!
Right: Growing together!
(Mugshot earlier this week).

Passing on the tag...
And now, it'll be great to hear from these lovely ladies, if you haven't already been tagged, of what it was like for you, before you were a mom:

- Kat
- Yan
- Priscilla
- Tot's Mom
- Charlene

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!