On the days when my 2 month old decides he doesn’t want to nap and gets fussy and over-tired, I just remind myself that he won’t be this little forever and that I’m going back to work soon and won’t see him as much.

On the days when I don’t have a minute to myself with free hands to do any of the other things I was hoping to get done, I remind myself that one day I won’t be able to hold and snuggle and cuddle with him: that one day he’ll be too embarrassed to even hold Mama’s hand in public.

On the days when nothing I try seems to stop the crying and I can’t sway hard enough to calm him down, I remind myself that there will come a day when he won’t look to me to comfort him, and one day there will be another woman in whose arms he finds that comfort.

On the days when I get more tears than smiles, I remind myself that his first smile will always have been for his Mama.

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On the nights when he’s up every few hours and those few blissful nights of 8+ hours of sleep seem like a lie I told myself, I remind myself that one day soon, he will outgrow his newborn sighs and snores and they will be a distant memory that I’ll long to hear in the middle of the night.

On the days that are tough, long, stressful, emotional, draining, and trying, I try to remember all that is good and wonderful and sweet about these days.  I struggle to hold on to the precious moments that one day will be long gone as my teenage son would rather hang out with his friends than his mother.  I remind myself that I’m raising a baby boy that will one day leave me to become the head of his own household, and hopefully one day soak in the goodness of rocking his own baby boy to sleep.

I try to remember that these days (and nights), though long and hard at times, are a beautiful gift that I will not get back.  And it doesn’t take all of the stress, worry, or tiredness away.  It just reminds me that the trials now are temporary and so too will be the trials of the future, but the beautiful moments I get with him will last a lifetime in my memory.

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