We had such a good week.

Just the other evening Tim, Clara, Ozzie and I were hanging out in bed after dinner. Clara was having the best time showing off her new ‘somersault’ skills. She kept yelling ‘SOMERSAULT!!!!!!!!!’ and attempting to flip herself over. Sometimes she managed a half-headstand, sometimes she did a log roll, sometimes we grabbed her legs to assist her in a ‘proper’ somersault… it was so fun and she was so proud of herself. We all laughed and laughed, together.

It was a moment I never want to forget.

This week Clara has also been very preoccupied with ‘the baby’ (as she calls Baby Beni) in my belly. She’s been covering him/her with coconut oil, bathing him/her, giving him/her lots of kisses, etc. I have quite a little nurturer on my hands, and it makes me even more excited to introduce her to our newest family member.

I wrote a post this week about how hard the transition to motherhood is, and I meant every single word of it. But I hope I’ve also made it clear that I think becoming a mom is absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to me. I’m still transitioning into motherhood, and I’ll soon be transitioning again into being the mother of two little ones. But, as in most things, I believe that the transition is the hardest part, and eventually life settles in to a routine and a rhythm that just works, which is the phase we’re in right now. I’m thankful when I look at my little family and realize that I have everything I’ve ever wanted. I can’t imagine my heart growing any bigger, but it will in just a few short weeks.

Is the transition to motherhood hard? Absolutely. And I don’t think we prepare women enough for how tough and (potentially) isolating those first few months can really be. But I have more joy and love in my life now than I could have ever imagined two years ago, and I wouldn’t ever want to go back to my life without my babes.

Things I’ve Read on the Web:

// 3 Ways To Ensure Your Daughter Has A Healthy Body Image: “From the impact of a seemingly innocuous playground comment to the violent extreme of rape culture, this is why your daughter needs to know you value her sexual worth. Locking her away until she’s 30 isn’t what will help her. Her internalization of your esteem for her is what will be useful to her in combating the pressures she’ll be up against. I do want to stress, however, that it isn’t all about safety. Her internalization of your esteem for her will also be one of the things that gives her the confidence to be true to herself so she can make decisions in pursuit of her personal happiness on all fronts.” (here)

// The Magical Key to Doing It All: “Each of you has the capacity to do what’s important to you, but there’s no way that can include everything. If you expect a perfectly clean house, manicured yard, homemade food on the table every night supplied from your flourishing vegetable garden, a fulfilling job, margin for personal creativity, community with friends and family, involvement in the community, 60 minutes of daily exercise, time to read and watch TV, and all the other things you think you should do, you’ll literally become an insane person.” (here)

// Why Saying You Want Change is Not Enough: “We want to get out of debt, but continue to spend money on unneeded things. We want to get in shape, but never make the changes in our diet or exercise habits to accomplish that. We want to start saving for retirement, but never pursue the answers we need to get started. We desire to start a business or change jobs, but continue to spend our evenings and weekends watching television.” (here)

// Five Myths About Our Habits: “In truth, many of our behaviors are not guided by self-control. Half the tasks we perform daily are things we do without thinking. And studies show that people with high levels of self-control aren’t constantly battling temptation — they’re simply relying on good habits to exercise, make the kids’ lunch or pay the bills on time without thinking about it much. In that way, high self-control is an illusion, actually consisting of a bedrock of habitual patterns. That makes sense: It would be exhausting to repeatedly struggle to control our actions to do the right thing.” (here)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!