Feeling Like a Mom
First smiles, first words, first time your baby grabs your finger with his or her little fist and doesn?t let go ? there are a lot of moments in parenting that simply take our breath away. It?s these moments when everything else in the world seems to just fade into nothing and you suddenly feel a greater purpose in life.
Bringing our daughter home from the hospital was a surreal moment for me ? carrying her sleeping body nestled in her car seat into the house for the first time, then setting her down on the floor and just staring in awe. But it wasn?t for another few weeks when I truly had what I call my first ?mom moment.?
The reality of parenthood and being a mom hit home for me the first time when my daughter was just a few weeks old. I had been feeding her a bottle and, after she finished, she threw it all back up on me. In that little moment, when I saw her in what I thought was some sort of distress, it suddenly hit me how small my life was compared to hers, and how it suddenly had a whole new meaning. No longer was anything about me ? no, the world that I inhabit was all about her, and making sure that she was comfortable, and comforted. After all, I?m her mom.
I did my best to save the carpet and upholstery by catching as much spit up as I could, but my first priority was (and has been since the day she was born) her. It?s my job as her mother to protect her as much as I can and make sure that she is taken care of. That, to me, is the essence of being a mom, and what each of my subsequent ?mom moments? has reinforced.
What have been your “mom moments” or “dad moments”?
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