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10/24/2017 2:15:51 AM
Home >Family >6 Lessons I'm Learning from Having 5 Children

6 Lessons I'm Learning from Having 5 Children by Word of Mom Blogger on July 20, 2015 Word of Mom Blogger

 I'd always dreamed of being a mother — so much so that I knew what I wanted to name my six children before I even got married. My mother had five children, so I was sure I could have six (maybe I thought her job looked easy!). When we got married and talked about how many kids we wanted, my husband said four, and I still said six. But I knew once we got married and started having kids we would come to an agreement.

I remember that moment, a little over 10 years ago, when we had our first child. Our little girl was perfect and those first 48 hours were a parenting breeze. Then, the nurses came in and informed me it was time to go home. We were on our way home when it hit me that we had a baby, and that we were taking her home to be her parents forever. I kept thinking, I am this child's mother, I hope I am good at this. I knew all this beforehand, but it became very real to me in that moment.

As we pulled into the driveway, I felt so nervous. My husband looked at me and said, "Are you ready for this?" I burst out crying. He gave me a hug and reassured me I would be a great mother. I got out of the car and carefully carried her car seat into the house! I can do this, I thought to myself.

Since that day I have learned so much. Here are a few things I have learned while raising my five children:

A schedule is good, but stress isn't.

With my first child, I poured my soul into reading books about having the perfect baby and tried follow the authors' advice to a tee. I looked at the clock all day long to make sure she was on a perfect schedule. I was a total stress case. I wanted her to learn to sleep on her own so I hardly ever rocked her, which to this day, I still regret. I stressed out so much about her sleeping through the night, and she never did until she was a year. (She was not an easy baby.) I loved my baby so much, but being a mom was hard.

Two years later we were blessed with a sweet baby boy. This time around, we got a totally different baby with a whole new temperament. He was easy: He slept through the night at three months and ate every three hours. I felt like I was getting good at the mothering thing! But even then, I wasn't perfect at it, and I still wanted to stick to a schedule.

My mom once said to me, "Stop looking at the clock and enjoy your baby"! That's when I realized I needed to forget about a strict schedule and enjoy my baby. So I did just that, and it helped both of us. While having a schedule is a good thing, stress is not. Babies three, four, and five ended up getting on a great schedule on their own because I stopped being the "crazy scheduling lady" that I was, and I just enjoyed my days with them!

Being a mom is challenging no matter how many kids I have.

A lot of people ask me if having five kids is hard. My answer to them is, yes, of course. But having any number of children is hard. Going from two to three children was probably the biggest challenge, but as my older children have grown, they have become very helpful.

Enjoy each stage of life.

I cry every time one of my children has a birthday. I always tell them they can't grow up, but they never listen. While it's hard to see them grow up, I have learned to love each stage and age of life. My kids are becoming more incredible people every day, and I enjoy watching them learn, grow, and become who they are destined to be.

Going into labor is scary no matter what!

Even after having five kids, I am still just as nervous to "go into labor" as I was with the first. The unknown is scary. All of my babies have come so differently — from being dilated to a four and 80 percent effaced for two weeks, to having my water leaking and needing to be induced, to having what some call silent labor and arriving at the hospital just in time to start pushing.

Each child is unique.

One of the things I have come to understand about my five children is that they are each so unique with different needs and likes. They are all different in the way they need to be loved, disciplined, and cared for. For instance, my daughter loves for me craft and chat with her, and my son loves us to work or build stuff with him. It's important that we see these differences in our children, and not treat them all the same!

I love being a mother.

Don't you love being called "Mommy" by a sweet voice as they wander the house looking for you? As I sat rocking my four-month-old to bed last night, I thought about how much I enjoy this time with him. How much I will miss it when he just goes to bed on his own. I love looking down into his sweet eyes as he looks up at me like I am the world to him. I am the world to him right now... so I am going to enjoy it while it last because time passes way too quickly.

Being a mom to five children isn't easy, but it is the most wonderful, amazing, and rewarding experiences in the world.

Kendra Wright is a wife and a mother to five beautiful children. She is a stay-at-home mom and the author of the blog The Things I Love Most where she writes about family life, motherhood, finances, healthy living, homeschooling, cooking, and basically the things she loves. Stop on by and visit Kendra on Facebook , Twitter, and Pinterest .
