Maggie turned 16 months (ten days ago now.. I drafted this post last week, whoops!) – and since it was the day before mother’s day I thought, why not do a bit of a special post this month? A mix of Maggie & motherhood?

(I also don’t have much new to report in terms of milestones or activities for this month… we’re pretty much doing the same things as we were at 15 months)

A Few Quick Maggie Updates:

• Several new words were added to her vocabulary this month, she now says things like “book”, and “papa”, and the best of all (not): “no” haha! And she is trying very hard to say “hot potato” like they do in the Wiggles song!
• She can do all the actions that go with the Wiggles Rockabye Your Bear song too!
• She is trying to jump – she goes up on her tippy toes quite a bit now
• She can do Simon says with some of her body parts – head, feet, nose
• She is getting pretty good with both a fork & a spoon – we got her a few new utensils recently that were more age appropriate, I’ll share some of our updated stuff in next month’s post!
• And she continues (so far so good) to be sleeping really well! From about 730 pm to 7 am on weekdays, and she will even sleep in for us most weekends (till 8:30 – 9 am, wow!!). Here is hoping we don’t experience any leap-related interruptions!

So, without further ado, here are 16 things I love about motherhood. Keep in mind that there are parts of motherhood that are more difficult. That challenge me. Sometimes that make me feel frustrated, tired, and done. It ain’t perfect – but I think I am also lucky that Maggie is honestly such an amazing, easygoing baby! So I do have a lot of joy – even in those semi-frustrating moments!

1. Hearing “mama” (for the first hundred times).

I’m not sure about after the hundredth time – haha just kidding. It’s usually still music to your ears! Even when they’re saying mama while you’re in the washroom and “dada” is just sitting there, fully available… I know, I know – I better get used to it!

2. Kisses (no matter how wet)!

One of my favourite things that Maggie learned to do in the past few months is give kisses. I love when she gets cuddled up (because it doesn’t happen as often lately) and just plants a wet kiss right on my cheek. It’s just SO cute. And slobbery. But still cute.

3. Watching your little one learn and explore.

My favourite pastime (and I think I’ve talked about this in some of my Maggie monthly posts) is watching Maggie explore the world around her. I could lay there all day and watch her flip through a book, or pick dandelions in a field. Everything seems so amazing and wondrous to her – it’s something we adults can only aspire to! It’s easily one of my top 3 favourite parts of having a child. I can’t wait to see what she will explore & learn from next.

4. When they first wake up in the morning.. (when they start sleeping through the night)

Otherwise the morning might be some ungodly hour like 4 am (or earlier for some). I love going into Maggie’s room in the mornings. Sometimes she doesn’t wake up right away, and I go to turn off her white noise machine and she starts to stir. She always sits right up in her crib and smiles. Every morning! She almost never wakes up upset these days – always smiles and joy! It makes my morning.

5. Shopping for baby clothes

This one is a bit selfish, but it is totally one of my favourite motherhood pastimes. I love shopping and it’s so much fun to shop for someone else! Plus, there are some damn cute baby clothes, especially for girls (I can’t speak to the boys selection).

6. Getting her dressed in said clothes.. but only when she wants to

Because getting her dressed in clothes when she doesn’t want to isn’t really a joy of motherhood for me!!! I’m sure other mother’s understand. Maggie is at an age now where some days she will come right to me to put something on, and others she will run around naked and poop on my carpet (a story for another time).

7. Listening to my chatterbox talk!

She is so chatty lately, and I love it. I love her little voice. The different pitches she can do. When she makes animal noises at our cats and dog. I love it. I realize that I may not always love it forever, so I’m soaking it up now while she can’t say that many words.

8. Sharing a snack (sometimes).

I admit, one thing I miss is eating a snack alone. But sometimes it’s nice to share – my girl loves to eat and I love to see her face when she enjoys something!

9. Bedtime!

This is an honest blog – so, one of my joys is sometimes bedtime. Not always. And don’t get me wrong – even after a longer day, I still check the camera repeatedly after she goes to sleep and talk about her to my husband; tell him how much I miss her. But sometimes – my me time is also nice! That is one of the joys of motherhood. All this lovely time with my daughter, but then also the time I get to myself at the end of each day to unwind. That is still important!! You don’t have to love every damn minute of mothering or parenting. It’s hard work. It’s a full time job really.

I think it’s totally normal to appreciate bed time. So don’t ever let anyone make you feel guilty about enjoying the time to yourself that you get. You are a human being and everyone needs a reset moment. Also #selfcare.

10. Family moments

Before we were just a couple. Now we are a family. I mean, we were a family before too – but Maggie – for us, made that extra special. This won’t be the case for everyone – you can be happy and be a family no matter your situation. Just for us – Maggie is the cherry on top!

My favourite moments of motherhood are the weekends spent with the three of us. And we’ve been so lucky to get a lot of that time in Maggie’s first 16 months of life because of the pandemic. One must see the silver lining of an otherwise difficult situation – and for me, this is it. I love seeing my husband with her and I love all 3 of us being together. We don’t even have to be doing a lot – just having breakfast together on Sunday mornings can be absolutely wonderful.

I have always been goal and career driven, and I still am. I like to do my job well. I like to excel in areas I’m good at. I like to have interests and things I can spend my time doing outside of parenting/motherhood. But I recently realized I was trying to take on too many opportunities – I would love to do everything, but the reality is that I’m so busy just being a newer mom, working full-time, having a family life, going to school, and participating in some nursing groups (plus the blog and podcast of course!) that I honestly just don’t have the energy for anything else. I was running myself dry trying to make things work or figure out a way to make things work.

I wish I could do everything – but I’ve realized I can’t. One opportunity on the side at a time is enough – and right now, I’m happy pursuing my own interests and endeavours like this blog and the podcast. If I had two bodies, I’d do more – but I don’t. And I want to have time for my family and not feel like panicked that I’m not meeting a deadline or that I have to reschedule something because my baby had trouble falling asleep. Trying to do more, meet all my goals & pursue all these dreams was making me stressed and I don’t want to feel that way when I don’t have to.

So catch me thriving in the next few months (I hope)! And with that being said – see you next month for your regularly Maggie Monthly!