Am Beautiful Mama?

Well, apparently somebody other than myself thinks so. Hur hur.

Katrijn (who’s recently welcomed their second child into the family, go say hi!) has nominated me for the Beautiful Mama award. And since it’s not like I am constantly receiving awards (and also because work allows me to BREATHE! now), I shall gladly endeavour to follow the rules of the award:

1. Talk about three things that I love about being a mother
2. Nominate as many deserving mamas as I like

Here goes…

Motherhood makes me a more humble person.
The truth is, I had never doubted my ability to spawn mini-mes. Infertility is something that nobody ever talks about. When you try for months and months and get to nowhere while others simply breathe and get pregnant, it hits you like a tonne of bricks. It hurts.

And now that I have my little man, I find myself thanking the big guy above every day. Even on mornings after a night of ravaged and little sleep, I can’t help but smile at and love the kid with all my heart. Because he is here.

Also, watching him grow and develop has been a privilege like no other. Abilities that we take for granted – walking, running, even good ‘ol farting – are skills that babies need to learn. It amazes me to see how nature and nurture combine to unlock these abilities in the little ones.

And this is how and why motherhood takes me down a peg. Or two. And I love it.

Baby kisses, laughter, smiles and hugs are awesome.
No matter how bad the day has been, no matter how weary I am, everything is erased and the slate is cleaned when I get to see my little boy in the evenings. The way his eyes light up at the sight of me, the way he smiles and reaches his little arms out towards me, the way his legs kick in excitement…I instantly become a new person again.

I love the way he pats my chest when I carry him, the way he cheekily turns away when I say “KEEEEEES!”, the way he babbles in the car seat when I am driving us home.

Everything. I love everything about him.

He is my mirror and more.
Being able to see myself in my son is such a funny, fuzzy feeling. His smile, the way he bites on his lower lip, his talkative nature – these are my traits that were genetically handed down to him.

At the same time, he makes me more aware of how I behave. Little persons have such strong abilities to mimic the adults that I am trying to be a better person for him.

Now, although I am supposed to be nominating three mamas for this award, I’m not going to do that. Instead, I am giving this out to all mamas reading this because we are all beautiful in our own ways. So go on, grab this for your own blog if you want to!