Growing Pains

Maya 4 years old

Cohen 21 months

There are lots of things you learn when you are a mother. You suddenly find yourself the holder of a variety of titles; chef, laundry service, maid, friend, the referee, problem solver...etc. the list can go on FOREVER! One of the biggest things I've learned is that life never stays the same and neither do your children. As soon as you begin to feel confident and proud, like you have it all figured out and you are understanding your children perfectly, the curve ball hits and your onto a new stage/phase of your child's development. Then, once again, you find yourself thinking okay, okay what do I need to do differently and how can I navigate through this? I have come to believe these changes are Heavenly Father's way of keeping us mothers (or maybe just me) on our toes and constantly learning. These moments are my growing pains.

I recently experienced one such episode of "onto the next phase" growing pains that was so hard for me to figure out. I felt like I was in no man's land and had no idea what I was doing or how to even address certain situations. That week was full of several, "Um...how do I even respond to this" moments. I hated feeling that way. I find myself just wanting to talk about my frustrations when I am in these moments of mothering. Cory is great, he listens and gives his advice but, let's be honest, it is much harder when you are with your children ALL DAY and they are not. What seems so big to you maybe doesn't seem that big to them. Then there are those times your "I don't know what to do" vents to others are met with criticism. That's the LAST thing any mother needs, aren't we tough enough on our selves? So, in the middle of feeling frustrated I decided I just need to pray and turn to our Heavenly Father, He won't judge me and He will help me. What I learned was so significant and has made such a difference in my perspective of "growing pains". Our Heavenly Father has given us these special little spirits to guide, teach, and love in a way they are just on "loan" to us for awhile. He wants us to ask for help even if we think it's silly to ask. Maybe that is not a new revelation for some of you but it was for me. I can always ask Heavenly Father to help me think of things to get Cohen to eat more vegetables or how to react to a sassy little Maya (or what ever the current hard thing is). I am so grateful for His love and His influence in my life as a mother. I'm sad it took me so long to realize He does care about all our "little" worries but that is something I will never forget! So here's to all those mom's out there who ever experience frustrating times in raising children, keep it up we're doing the most important work of all!