The Joys of Being a Mom
When you become a mom, everyone is quick to tell you what’s in store for your future.
The sleepless nights.
How fast time flies.
The terrible twos, the threenager years, the ferocious fours.
They warn you about the cost of it all from diapers, formula, daycare, groceries that somehow add up faster than you expect.
And they’re right.
There are nights when all you want is uninterrupted sleep because you know how much better everything would be if you just had it. There are car rides where you hear “Mom” so many times you start to lose your mind (we personally hit a record of 50 times in a thirty-minute car ride). There are moments when you miss your husband, even though he’s right there.
But what no one really tells you about are the moments that quietly make it all worth it.
Like the morning my daughter slid a note under the bathroom door while I was getting ready. It said, “I love you Mom,” written in her careful handwriting, hearts filling every empty space. I now have that note hanging at my desk.
Or the middle-of-the-night rocking session with my two-year-old when he didn’t feel well last night. I held him the same way I did when he was a newborn, except now his legs hang past mine. As he was snuggled on me, I couldn't help but smile as I thought about the early overnight feeds with him, followed by flashes of milestones over the past two years.
There’s the way my daughter walked up to my son and said, “Garrett, I will love you forever,” and he immediately gave her a kiss. The way my son’s entire face lights up over something as simple as a Cars hat. The way my daughter runs off the basketball court or out of dance class and flashes me two proud thumbs up, just because she was happy I was there to watch her.
Or looking in the backseat to see your littles holding hands and giggling together.
And how the proud your heart becomes when your children accomplish something they have been working on for so long. Something as simple as your son speaking two words together after being in speech since he was 1 year old, and your daughter reading a book on her own.
Some days, the chaos feels louder than the joy. The exhaustion feels heavier than the gratitude. And that’s real.
But even when the sweet moments are brief, they carry more weight than the hard ones ever could. They stay with you. They remind you why you keep going, even on the days when everything feels like too much.
If you’re in a season that feels overwhelming, you’re not alone. I know it’s tiring. I know it stretches you thin. Some people will tell you it only gets harder, but I don’t believe that.
Because even in the hardest seasons, there is beauty. And when we slow down enough to notice the little moments, they quietly become the ones that matter most.
So, while there's a lot of people who will share the hard moments to come with parenthood, in effort to "prepare" you, I am here to remind you, there are so many sweet moments in your future, that are far more important and last so much longer in your heart. I have seen it firsthand as a Springfield, Illinois family photographer and as a fellow mama to littles.
About the Author
Courtney is a Springfield IL photographer specializing in senior, family, maternity, newborn and motherhood photography. When she’s not behind the camera, she’s soaking in the little moments with her own growing family.