This is the third part in my series about moms from near and far. I would never have met Amy if my friend Beau had not been the crazy guy to move to the east coast because of a girl. I am so glad he did, because now I count Amy as one of my friends. Plus we have kids very close in age so it's fun to compare mom notes. And, Beau and Amy find the neatest things on Amazon and always share the links. Thanks friends!
1) Name and Age:
Amy, 31 years old
2) Kids' Ages:
Mallory, 18 months old
3) When did you first relate to the word Mom?
Honestly, I’m still not sure if being called “Mom” feels real yet! Sometimes I have this moment of awareness where I think, “This awesome little person is mine! She’s MY child! Whaaat?!”.
4) What is your favorite aspect of motherhood?
Getting to see my daughter have new experiences. Even when it’s something I have done or seen many times before, or something that I haven’t done in a long time, it’s so fun to see her reactions to brand new situations. Runner up: Bedtime. I love rocking my daughter to sleep, holding her close as she drifts off, and cuddling her for an extra minute once she’s fallen asleep.
5) What is your least favorite aspect of motherhood?
No more sleeping in! Runner up: Mommy guilt – often feeling like I’m missing out on something or going to be missing out on something when I’m not with her.
6) Who is a mom you idolize/look up to/admire?
My neighbor is the mother of 3 wonderful kiddos. For the first few weeks after my daughter was born, I was surprised to feel less than enthusiastic about my circumstances. I was sore for many weeks from giving birth. Breastfeeding was painful, and my tiny newborn wanted to nurse for 45 minutes to an hour every 30-60 minutes around the clock. I cried, sometimes over silly things but often over nothing. I had no idea how I was ever going to prepare food for myself/use the bathroom/shower again with this baby attached to me all the time. This was NOT what I signed up for, and I started to wonder what I’d gotten myself into. She let me know that I wasn’t crazy, wasn’t a bad mom, and that many other women feel this way at first and don’t often speak about it. And that it WOULD get better. She has continued to have such a great way of being so real about motherhood, and shows me that it is possible to be a great mom AND have other things going on in your life! Oh, and she was right about it getting better.
7) Do you think moms ever get enough sleep?
Even when I get enough sleep, I still don’t feel like I’ve gotten enough sleep!
8) What advice do you have for new moms?
You probably aren’t going to need all that stuff you think you’ll need for your baby before he/she is born. And you will probably need some of that stuff that you looked at when you were creating your baby registry and thought, “That’s ridiculous, we’ll never use that.” (For us, we never really needed a bottle warmer – though I know some new parents couldn’t do without it. And I passed over someone’s advice to buy a Rock ‘n Play pre-baby and found myself calling multiple consignment stores to find one one afternoon when my 7-week-old suddenly didn’t want to nap lying flat and motionless anymore.)
9) What is your easiest go-to dinner?
Baked chicken tenderloins and roasted baby carrots (which are easier than they sound – toss whole baby carrots with some olive oil, spread on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with pepper and sea salt, bake until tender which is usually @ 20-30 minutes). Or take-out – for gifts, we always ask for gift cards to local take-out restaurants!
10) What is your favorite non-mom thing to do?
It’s only happened once in the last two years (due to being pregnant and then becoming a new mom), but I do love going out dancing with friends.
Thanks Amy!
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