A Before and After Look at Motherhood {Guest Post}

So glad to have this post by Amy, at Sugar and Spice, to share with you all today! She is going to share about how her life has changed since becoming a Momma.

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Hi ladies!

My name is Amy. 

I'm from Sugar and Spice, a blog about raising little girls, eating yummy foods, reading great books, encouraging your walk with God, and dressing cute!


My little ones are Grace (oldest; the vanilla one) and Emma (youngest; chocolate)

I am so grateful to Lisa for having me today, and I love her blog because we love some of the same topics.  She is a great Momma and using her well deserved "me time" for our benefit, right?

Before I became a mom, my life was different in many ways.  I'll share a few of them with you, let's see if you can relate to any of this:

KIDS:  Before & After

I knew what sleeping in meant.                       

7:20 is a late morning for me.

I’d spend every Sunday morning reading at the coffee shop for an hour.

The coffee shop has made maybe $5 on me in the last year.

We ate out relatively often in a nice restaurant.

Chipotle, Noodles & Company, and Panera is going out for us.

My floors stayed clean for days after I swept them.

My floors stay clean for 5.6 seconds after I sweep them.

The grocery store was a place I could pop in to at any time.

Grocery trips must be strategically and carefully planned out.

My schedule was determined by my workday and social activities.

My schedule is determined by naptimes.

I drove a small black SUV.

I drive a minivan :)

I bought nice flatbread crackers with Portwine cheese spread for snacks.

I buy goldfish for snacks.

I was able to store all of our specialty glassware in our cabinets.

Two entire cabinets are taken up by plastic sippy cups, bottles, plates, and tiny colorful silverware.

My purse was organized, maybe a bit of loose change.

My purse has a loose kid spoon, nipple (for a bottle), travel wipes, and used tissue.

We had a guest room.

We don’t have much extra room.

I could talk on the phone as loudly as I wanted in the house.

I sometimes talk so quietly in the house that my friends think something is wrong.

I smiled and laughed at my favorite TV shows.

I smile and laugh at my kids.  (They are so cute!)

Even though my life has changed, and in many cases things are more work or simply harder to do than they were before, I would not trade this post-kids life for anything.  

I remember taking a walk alone shortly after #1 was born.  I made the realization that my life would never be the same again.  At the time, this was a frightening thought.  I was kind of a slave to my baby and her needs.  What about my freedom?  What about the things that I want to do?  These things would have to stop, or at least be put on hold.  I actually had to mourn the loss of my old life in those first few days after I became a mom for the first time.  

Mourning that loss was necessary, though.  It made me see that I truly was living for myself, and I had to embrace the reality that it wasn't all about me anymore.  Thank you, God, for saving me from myself in that way.  Kids force you to do what you should be doing all along - putting others before yourself.  I hope God gives me 25 kids so I can never stop learning that lesson.  (Just kidding about the 25).


I'm sure if you're a mom you can relate to some of these "Before & Afters".  If you don't have kids yet, enjoy each moment of your time in the blue!  I hope you'll come by and pay me a visit some time.  
Amy

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Thanks for sharing Amy! As a Momma, I can totally relate to each one of these! 
To read more from Amy check out her blog here.