When it’s your kid’s birthday, it’s like your own birthday + Christmas day + every other celebratory holiday in the calendar year all rolled into one. Even if no one else celebrates the fact that you have kept a life alive for “x” amount of years, you definitely should. Shout it from the roof tops, have a drink and twerk to your heart’s desire. You, as a parent, have made it another year and lived to talk about it. And, if you happen to be a single parent, I think you should be EXTRA celebrated because YOU DID THAT. (Yes, you have help along the way because without out it how would you function?!) But, for the most part, it is all you, all of the time. So, in-between all of the celebrations for your kid, don’t forget to celebrate yourself. Because you (and I) deserve it.
I am over-the-moon-beyond-excited that my #Arterbaby is now three years old. 3! Every year that he gets older, I am just like WOW. He is such a yummy little thing and I am in awe of him of daily. Obviously, I love him more than life.
One big thing that I wasn’t expecting is that I would actually grow more confident into my role as a mom. In hindsight, it’s probably one of those “DUH” things that other O.G. moms would tell you just happens naturally, but to be honest, I wasn’t expecting it to happen as quickly as it has. I think a lot of the reason I am more confident in my role is that I finally stopped caring about what others thought or said in regards to my new mom lifestyle. Also, I am extremely stubborn and once I get my sights set on something, there’s not much you can do to stop me from going for it. Right now, I am hell bent on being a good mom and giving my son the best life possible.
I plunged into this whole motherhood thing headfirst and, yeah, maybe I did look back a couple of times in the beginning and then there was that time for a couple of months during #Arterbaby’s first year that I felt like I was drowning. But, I’m finally at the stage where I’m swimming right along just fine. This is the first year that I didn’t feel sad about #Arterbaby’s birthday (because, you know, that whole absentee father thing) nor did I feel sorry for myself in any shape, form or fashion. Instead, I am grateful and happy that I have such an adorable, smart, healthy little boy. No, things certainly aren’t perfect, but I have confidence that we’ll get there soon enough. In the meantime, I’m just taking it one day at a time and loving my life just as it is. The lessons that I’ve learned along the way still apply to me daily and I look forward to my lifetime of #Arterbaby.
