Better With Age

I think that being born first, M might have gotten the short end of the stick. I feel like I am a much better mom now than I was when I first started down this motherhood journey, and that J and especially A get the benefit of my experience.

I was such a novice when I started out as a mom. I knew nothing, except, thankfully, that I was passionate about breastfeeding. Fortunately that one simple act helped to uncover the many other aspects of motherhood that I now cherish. It took eight weeks of sleep deprivation and misery for me to discover co-sleeping with M, and I've never looked back. I knew nothing about cloth diapering until J was born. I was fortunate to have a homebirth with A, and she has been the one who has triggered my interest in homemaking, sustainability, cooking, knitting, baking.

More important than these acts, though, is that I think I am more patient and easy-going than I was when I started out mothering. I embrace messes to a much greater degree. And I enjoy the process much more, having gained the perspective of time and how fast childhood passes.

What about you? Do you feel as though your parenting has also gotten "better with age?"