deliberate motherhood and a new year

Well, it's 7:30am on January 1st and I'm sitting at my computer with a baby on my lap.  Some of you will think nothing of that-but those of you who know me well will be shocked.

I love my sleep.  I always have.  I always will.  I took naps even in Kindergarten because I wanted to, not because my mom made me.  My sweet Eden has taken after me and still sleeps until 8 or 9am each morning.  This means that I haven't really encountered the whole, every morning 6am thing that most parents deal with from the get go.

Brigham has been following along the same pattern, until the last 2 weeks or so, when he has suddenly decided that he really likes having me to himself in the early a.m.  Thankfully, I've been thinking a lot about one of my New Years Resolutions.

For Christmas, I received the book Deliberate Motherhood: 12 Powers of peace, purpose, order and joy.  (Don't worry, I asked for it, it's not some kind of message being thrown my way.)  I decided a few months ago that I wanted this book and that I would focus on one of each of the "powers" each month of this year to help me become a better mother. 

This month's power is acceptance.  Basically the premise is that we can't change a lot of the things that we deal with as mothers.  But we only make it worse on ourselves when we try to fight it and can't make peace with it.  For example, I've been so frustrated with Buddy waking up early every morning. When I wake to hear him cry for food, my first thought is "NO!!!!!" 

But this morning when I woke up and that sinking feeling came, I decided that I wasn't going to let it overpower me anymore.  I have children, and they WILL wake up early.  And they will cry and they will always want candy for breakfast and need me the moment I try to do anything.  Suddenly my perspective changed.  Once I accept that Brigham wakes early, it's no longer a problem every morning- I can move on because I've accepted that it will happen.  I'm no longer upset with him for waking up- I can now rock this sweet, smiling boy of mine and relish in the time when it's just the two of us. Through the power of acceptance I have found joy and peace in something that has been driving me crazy.

I will be focusing on this for the whole month.  Join me!  What do you need to accept?  I'll be popping in at the beginning of each month to journal the power of the month and how I will try to use it.  Here's to the start of a better wife for my loving husband and a better mother for my wonderful children.

P.S.  The book is awesome so far, I'm not done yet, but I still recommend it highly.