Being a mum is a whole lot of learning. Basically, forget everything you thought you knew up until now.
It’s a tricky school. You will laugh, you will adapt, you will find strength and flexibility you never knew you possessed. You will build and lose confidence. You will have wonderful weeks and disastrous days. What you learn tomorrow will make todays’ little bit of knowledge obsolete.
Motherhood is the endlessly loving, perpetually moving goal posts of life.
There are however a few things you realise along the way that you can only share when you’ve been there, done that.
Here’s 24 things I learned as my family grew:
1. You think you love your partner and then you have a baby. Your heart explodes. You have never known love like this before.
2. The house / car / washing machine / pram that seems ‘plenty big enough’ is never near big enough. Remember this every time you buy anything. (If there’s something that can grow, change and evolve with you, that is the right choice. Every single time.)
3. You believe your pre-children life is busy. Or that you’re tired. Every child you have will make this statement more hilarious to you. You will question exactly what you did with ALL THAT TIME pre-children. You will wish you slept more!
4. You will never regret buying the best quality item you can afford.
5. It is wise to choose godparents who are single and childless. These people will bring bountiful, enthusiastic joy to your child’s life. And the possibility of babysitting to yours.
6. When you are in the dark, murky midst of a first baby you will wonder if you are actually coping. You will understand how sleep deprivation is torture. You may vow to never have a second child. You will take a walk outside and fresh air will wash upon you. You will feel marginally better. And decide to walk again tomorrow.
7. When you are pregnant with your second child you will have a moment of panic and question why you have done this. You may contemplate that you have ruined child number one’s life and feel sick with worry and guilt.
8. You will give birth, hold child number two and your heart will explode all over again.
9. As you are desperately trying to get out of the house, the toddler will probably need to sit on the toilet. And the baby will be screaming. You will question how you ever thought having just one child was hard.
10. The parenting book you rigidly adhered to with child number one is now totally inapplicable. Somehow however both children appear to be doing ‘just fine’ despite the fact that one slept for exactly 90 mins at 11:05am and the other spends 85% of its life in the pram. Either way an awesome pram is a good investment. (The Mountain Buggy +one is ideal!)
11. You will realise that the more children in your arms, the more love you have to give.
12. Somewhere when the second baby fog lifts you’ll realise how you’ve changed and motherhood is easier. You’re enjoying being a mum, not just being a mum. You are not who you were pre-kids. You like this.
13. The best products you can buy will grow with you. They will change and evolve just like you have.
14. The worst products you buy will need 12 batteries, are made of plastic and larger than the home of a small Thai family. Said toy will also, at least once, sound off for totally unexplained reasons in the middle of the night provoking thoughts of burglars / ghost babies or burglar ghost babies. That toy will be relocated to the guest bedroom.
15. One day you will look in the rear vision mirror and your children will be holding hands across the car seats. You will immediately know having another child was the best decision you ever made.
16. The above moment may make your ovaries explode and you’ll cuddle up to your partner and dare to whisper you think you’d like one more …
17. Your partner will enthusiastically agree because you’re looking at him with those loving feelings. Or freak out and immediately have important man jobs to do in the garage.
18. You will juggle life like an all-star performer in the Moscow Circus. In the climactic moments where you have 115 plates spinning you will always appreciate the choices that made your life easier. This could be the fact you wagged swimming lessons. Or how the pram collapses with just one hand.
19. When you are wondering if your 115 plates are all about to crash to the ground, your child will invariably find a stick they want you to carry. If you don’t agree they’ll hit their sibling with it. Carry the stick. Much lighter than the sibling.
20. Your expectations on yourself will never decrease yet your level of care will drop significantly. Whilst your first child always wore a matching hat, your third child may still be in their pyjamas at school pick up. The same theory also applies to filling in Baby Books, taking photos and bathing.
21. Any products you have bought on recommendation from other mums are generally awesome. Mums speak the truth. There’s a reason some brand names last forever. Bonds. Huggies. Mountain Buggy. These brands are your failsafe. Always buy the brands.
22. You may or may not have the third child. Either way you will continue to change as a person and delight in your growing family. Sometimes two is enough. Sometimes five is enough. Only you will know.
23. One day, probably at the height of family chaos, you will step back from the loving, crazy, chaos and breathe in deeply. You’ll look at the mess, the laughter and the hustle and bustle and think, I did all that and it’s the best thing I ever did.
Happiness in motherhood is about flexibility.
Growing. Changing. Learning.
The best products in your mummy life will understand this and progress with you.
The Mountain Buggy +one grows with your family – from a single (with loads of storage) to a double.+one is essentially the all-terrain, award winning urban jungle buggy…plus one.
Mountain Buggy has come out on top as New Zealand’s favourite buggy brand in the 2016 OHbaby Awards. We are proud that +one won silver for best double buggy.
Conveniently bundled with a second seat and newborn mattress, +one allows you to take your adventure from the city to off the beaten track – with one newborn baby up to childhood years, one newborn newborn baby and a toddler, or two toddlers!
It’s jam packed with all the features parents love.
Mum Central is excited to be giving away a Mountain Buggy +one to a lucky reader. There’s no pram on the market that gets your growing family more…
To enter, simply complete the entry form below in full and tell us in the comments at the very bottom of the page what you love best about the Mountain Buggy +one and why you’d love to get your hands on one of these shiny new prams!
GOOD LUCK!
