Before I was a Mom

Mother's Day is in 4 days and it will be my first as a mom. This whole experience is still sometimes unbelievable. My mom emailed me this poem today. It really touched my heart and I wanted to share. Here it is:

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

Check out my friend's blog!

Ok, so I am new at this whole blog thing. I have several friends that do it and I follow theirs. I always thought, "this is so cool...I need to do a blog". I didn't know if I could be that creative or if I would bore people, then I thought I would just give it a shot today. I will try to back track as best as I can since I am starting this when Channing is 5 months old. My husband, Gary, and I have been married almost 5 years. Our anniversary is actually coming up in June. After almost 15 months of trying to start a family, we found out I was pregnant on March 31, 2008 and I was due November 29. We had our little boy, Channing Austin, on November 19. He was 9 lbs., 5 oz. and 22 inches long. God has truly blessed us with a perfect little boy. I have always felt like I was born to be a mother and Channing makes me smile every day!

My friend, Lindsay, has really inspired me to start this blog. She created a blog (When a Duet Becomes a Trio, http://littlealexander.squarespace.com/), which I have been following since last year when she found out she was pregnant. I found out shortly after she did...even though I told EVERYONE at 6 weeks and she waited longer, well at least to tell us at work. It was wonderful having someone to share pregnancy feelings, concerns, questions, etc. with. My best friend, Ashley, was also pregnant along with me and had her son in October. Back to Lindsay--she is doing a TV Hiatus Week where she is watching no TV at all this week. At first, I was thinking "She is crazy", but the more I think about it...it is not that bad of an idea. I don't think Gary and I could totally give up the TV but we could cut back! We watch way too much! We will definitely be cutting back soon because a lot of shows are ending their seasons for Summer. Check out Lindsay's blog to see what she'll be doing this week. She always has interesting posts! http://littlealexander.squarespace.com/