Every Monday, I sneak out of the house before dinner and teach two yoga classes downtown: Yoga for New Moms and Prenatal Yoga. I've been teaching prenatal yoga for almost five years, and I've had over 130 moms come through my class! Quite often, my new students are taking a yoga class for the first time, and they are also first-time mothers. There is so much to be uncertain about, and you can see it on their faces. It's an honor to watch these women grow in their motherhood journey, and to see them return after birth with babies on the outside to Yoga for New Moms.
Last Mother's Day, I woke up thinking about the mothers in my life: my own mom, my grandmothers, my great-grandmothers (I was lucky enough to know two of them well), my fairy godmothers (my aunts!), the mothers in my yoga classes, and my friends who are mothers. I have counted on all of them for support many times in my own motherhood journey. I suddenly had a vision for a snowflake!
I wasn't sure how to cut out a snowflake that wasn't symmetrical, so I needed some quiet alone time (not easy in a house with two young kids!) Luckily, it was Mother's Day, so I could do whatever I wanted, haha. ;) I went downstairs and cut out this snowflake in a whirlwind of inspiration. I cut the symmetrical aspects first - the heart, legs, backs, and heads - and then unfolded the snowflake once to cut the two mothers. This was my way of showing how grateful I am to have so many other mothers to lean on, and how proud I am of all the mothers I see in class every week.
Five years ago tomorrow, I went into the hospital for what I thought would be a "routine test" during pregnancy and I was told my son was going to be born 6 weeks premature. We were SO not ready. We didn't even own one diaper, didn't have a changing table, didn't own baby clothes (I hadn't had my baby shower yet, and I was convinced my son would be born late!).
Luckily, my mom was with me. She was the perfect person to be there for support, because she delivered my brother at 34 weeks, too. Mom & my fairy godmothers whipped our house into shape while I tried to wrap my head around becoming a mom 6 weeks earlier than expected. I delivered my son exactly 30 years after my mom delivered my brother - they share the same birthday!
Motherhood is a crazy, wonderful, exhausting, hilarious, frustrating, empowering journey. (And my kids are both under 5... the teenage years are easy, right?) I am so grateful for the other moms in my life who help me see the wonderful, hilarious, empowering parts, and keep me together during the crazy, exhausting, frustrating parts.
xo
M
PS: The Mothers & Babies snowflake is currently hanging at Ithacamade in the Dewitt Mall (downtown Ithaca, NY), and is for sale here! :)