Thank you Cindy from 3 Kids, 2 Dogs and 1 Old House for the tag in this special #RockingMotherhood post. I’m not a huge fan of tagged posts but this is an exception – I could never say no to Cindy and motherhood has taught me so much and brought endless joy.

And the deal is, I have to give you 10 reasons why I think I am #RockingMotherhood:

I love with my whole heart. Besides MC, my three girls are my everything. I have a strong and genuine love for these precious humans that grew inside me. I wake up each day ready to take on the world for them, I would sacrifice anything for them and I show them and shower them with endless love every day. I lose count of the kisses I give and the amount of times I say “I love you” each day.

I love their Dad. MC is my everything. I love him with my whole being, and the girls know this. I remind them every day how wonderful and amazing he is as a man, a husband and a father. And I show them how much I love him with cuddles and kisses, holding hands and stealing glances, speaking positively about him to them and highlighting his long list of strengths. They know that he is my whole world and that I love him unconditionally. This also shows them how a man and woman should love each other and hopefully sets an expectation for their future relationships and marriages.

I am strict and believe in discipline. I love my girls and we have fun times together but we also follow a strict routine and we set firm boundaries. Respect and being polite are of utmost importance and my girls know how to say please, thank you and respect adults and their peers. Most of the time, they listen when we talk to them and we rarely have to follow up with further discipline, but we do if we need to. Being a firm and disciplining parent is so difficult but there is nothing worse than a badly behaved child. It breaks my heart to shout or take away treats or privileges but the girls learn and benefit so much from this.

I am organized. Having children isn’t easy, especially three of them under the age of five. But our house runs like a well-oiled machine – everyone knows the place for things, the daily routine and weekly schedules. I plan meals, set out clothes and belongings, insist on routine, plan ahead and tick off to do lists and it allows us to enjoy moments and have sufficient time for fun instead of running around in chaos which just shortens tempers and fuses. This gives the girls some freedom and allows them to get through their day with a little less chaos and frustration.

I have a life without them. This is a controversial one for many parents but MC and I put ourselves first. We make time for ourselves (time with friends, pamper days, gym and golf) and we make time for each other (date nights, weekends away and holidays alone). This is a priority in our lives and it benefits our whole family. After our alone time, we come back refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to tackle the craziness. Our time together allows us to reconnect and communicate after weeks of being ships through the night. And our time away from our girls allows us to rekindle romance, enjoy our own activities, and allows the girls to enjoy time with their grandparents and/or friends and gives them freedom from us and our routine and an independence to be with others which is so important.

I am present. I am lucky to be a SAHM and be with my girls every day. I have dreamed about this since I was a little girl and even through the busy days of school, lifts, activities and routine – I spend time wth my girls. We play together and have fun – we play fantasy games, we dress up, we do arts and crafts and we bake. We learn together and do puzzles, and we read together most nights. We sit and talk and we discuss their days, their highs and lows and the world around us. We all enjoy this time together and it allows us to learn and develop their love languages and fill their individual love tanks. But there are also days when they are busy or I am out and we cannot enjoy these moments.

I fill their love tanks. Our girls are so different and they each have different love languages. We are always learning and trying to love them in their own way. Love languages is a big thing for us as it has taught MC and I so much about each other and the way we love and like to be loved as we are so different. We try our best to cuddle our Physical Touch child, pick flowers or buy a favorite treat or write notes for our Gifts child, we plan daddy/daughter or mommy/daughter dates with our Quality Time child and we speak words of praise and encouragement to our Affirmation child. There is nothing more rewarding (and well behaved) than a child with a full love tank.

I document their lives. I have two photo albums from my childhood (that my gran put together) and two files of school documents (that I put together) and a head full of memories. One thing this has taught me is to document, record and save as much as possible. There is nothing more special than being able to look back on baby photos, where we used to live, our first few birthday parties and elaborate cakes, our school reports and class photos, photos with our sweet little friends and family holidays and get togethers. Not all of us have incredible memories or secret journals from the years before. I have been really good at saving and filing the girls photos and videos from each occasion and year of their lives, completing their baby books, photos books of every birthday party and now starting on their school year books and saving their art pieces into photo books. I cannot wait to give them to them one day but already SJ loves paging through her baby book – it is so special.

I am their teacher. Being a mom of three daughters instantly makes me their first role model. They watch and copy me – they want to do as I do and say what I say. I am teaching them how to love Jesus, know our Lord and pray to our Heavenly Father. I am teaching them to be ladies, to be encouraging leaders rather than bossy friends. I am teaching them how to be respected by boys and highlighting qualities in a man through their Dad. I am teaching them manners and respect and how it feels to give and make others feel loved. I am teaching them their ABC’s and 123’s. I am teaching them that not everyone in the world has a good heart but how we should love our neighbors. I am always teaching them…

I am their Number 1 fan. Children thrive on affirmation and praise and I try my best to praise my girls when they do something spectacular, get something right or do something for the first time. But being their biggest cheerleader is also about encouraging them when they are trying their best to do something new or old, easy or difficult. It is also teaching them to understand and accept failure and that not everyone can be a winner – something they are already learning in a world with two sisters. Thriving to do or be your best is so important but congratulating a winner and accepting a loss of failure and picking yourself up to try again and do better is even more important. And there is nothing more rewarding than watching your 4yo saying well done to their 2yo sister who beat them in a board game, a tough pill to swallow.

I won’t lie, it’s not easy writing a long list of things you think you are rocking even for the most non-modest person out there. But I am proud of my journey and the three special humans we are raising.

And now for the rules:

1. Thank the blogger that tagged you and link to their blog
2. List 10 things you believe make you a good mother (this is just a guideline, it can be more or less 10)
3. Tag 3-5 (or more!) bloggers to join in the #RockingMotherhood tag

• Leigh from The Mom Diaries
• Chereen from For The Beauty Of It
• Christina from Carolina Charm
• Katie from Keep Calm and Carry On
• Laura from Happily Ever Parker
• Karli from September Farm
• Caycee from Hanging with the Hewitts

x

*You see that gorgeous header up there? That is the talent from my favorite graphics lady Andrea – thank you lovely*