Going Back to the Start in the Game of Motherhood?
I was 41 years old with teenagers. Was I about to go back to the start raising a baby to become a man? How did we get here? Funny you should ask!
We go back to New Year’s Eve 2015. Looking into 2016 I was doing what many 41-year-old women were doing on that very night.
Thinking about the future, dreaming about my goals, what targets I would hit in my career, how I would rule the world, or at least my own domain. What fun adventures our family would embark on, what would be improved and what would be different in 2016.
I didn’t see that coming
Little did I know (and furthest from my imagination!), at that moment God had blessed our family with a baby growing inside my womb.
Unplanned and unexpected, 9 days later I would discover that my husband of 14 years and I, were about to have our third child together. Talk about turning your life around!
Busy busy…
Our daughters were 12 and 10 at the time. To say I saw the light at the end of the tunnel was an understatement. We were radiating in blissful freedom.
If I was occasionally stuck in a long line at the checkout near time for school bus drop-offs, I was no longer in a state of alarm. “Carry on my friend, they will be fine!” I would tell myself.
When I arrived home my girls were munching on an afternoon snack and already finishing up their homework.
Life was good! My days were spent working on my home-based business, taking care of clients, making deliveries, cheering on and supporting my team while my girls were in middle school.
Then attending to my kids all afternoon supporting their sporting events, attending concerts, shuttling to practices and lessons. Evenings were a mix of work functions, meetings, church events, and children’s events.
Life was busy and full, my husband and I tag-teaming where needed. Traveling for business conventions on occasion added to the fun and provided a getaway.
The Change
Then… something changed, I was feeling tired, an exhaustion that lasted for days… what was going on with me? I wasn’t ill, what could be going on? Oh, wait… no?… couldn’t be?… OH, MY GOODNESS!!! Wait?
Do I still have one of those pregnancy tests buried in my bathroom drawer? Sure enough, as the pee hit the stick it instantly glowed with the result, life would forever be altered, our neat little family of four would become five.
No more “little table for four” at the restaurant. No more simple solutions, “you take one, I’ll take the other,” no more divvying up the rides at Six Flags into two by two rows. Simple, neat, Nope!
For the Better
Now we have a baby, a boy, a beautiful, wonderful, happy and sometimes demanding son. Our lives altered forever.
Two teenage daughters with raging hormones, complicated social networks, and probable addictions to tech devices. Plus a bouncing baby boy who only wants his Mama and a stuffed toy. Wait, what? How did we get here again?
This is the story of our journey of starting over.
Where we wonder at the beauty through the chaos and seek the simplicity to help make the journey smoother. Wisdom and experience are on our side. Age? Maybe not, we’ll see.
Back to the start of the journey, to the start of the ride. Either way, it looks to be a fun ride and we predict, the best one of our lives! Let’s go!
Cheers, Chandra
Chandra is the chocolate-chip loving mother of 2 teenage girls who started over again with a baby boy in her 40’s! She is the author of The Mom’s Playbook to Conquering Softball Season. She gives other moms the tools they need to prepare their daughters for real life. Her content is centered on helping girls grow up to be well-rounded, equipped, expressive, confident, intelligent, capable, kind and independent.
