Hi Sweet Friends!
Today, I’m getting a little more personal and sharing with you my story of motherhood and who inspires me to be the best mom I can be. With Mother’s Day just around the corner and of course, my being “The Cake Mama”, I thought it was fitting! Of all of the many hats I wear, (and we ALL know there are many!) nothing can top the joy of being a mother.
Grab your coffee, this one’s a long one!
I became a mother when I was 24 years old, to my sweet girl Emma.
I was the first person in my entire group of friends, and, family for that matter, who had a baby. My husband and I didn’t quite have the most “conventional” marriage: we got pregnant before we were married, and only just a year after we started dating. Looking back, we were totally immature and unprepared for what parenthood would bring.
Many things faltered, many things failed but every moment was a learning experience. We grew up A LOT, my husband and I. I was excited to become a mother but boy, was it ever a REAL learning curve.
Still, the joys of becoming a mom far trumped the struggles. All the milestones our daughter would hit, all the memories we created and who I grew to become are things I treasure so much. We grew up, but in a good way: deciding who and what was important to us helped shape us as a family.
Fast forward 3 years later, we welcomed our second daughter, Olivia.
She was -and still is, such a character! When she was born we didn’t know what to expect as she was completely different than her older sister in terms of routines and demeanor. Maybe though, it was because I had a little more experience under my belt that things just seemed a bit easier.
Becoming a mother to 2 girls meant that life became busier than it already was. I started baking on the side when I was on maternity leave with Emma. I continued to do it here and there and before I knew it, I was baking a wedding cake for a client 2 months after I had Olivia. But despite the craziness, I loved watching Emma interact with her new sister; learning ways to entertain such a little person and longing for the day she became big enough to be a real playmate.
It was in those moments that I would stop and smile and my heart would feel like it was going to burst.
As our girls were growing up, we waffled on the idea of bringing another baby into our family. Would it disrupt the beautiful rhythm we were already in? Would life be that much more difficult “starting over” again now that our two girls were of school age? What would people say?! LOL. All of these questions were swirling in my head…but I guess you guys all know what we ended up doing!!
We welcomed a baby BOY (!) into our family at the end of 2015.
If I thought motherhood was difficult before, NOTHING would have prepared me for what was to come having a son. Everything was different. Everything I once knew as a mother went out the window. This guy had his own agenda and we were ALL struggling to keep up.
Now that he’s almost a year and a half, I still feel like I don’t have it all under wraps BUT what he has taught me about myself is that as a mother, you continuously have to grow, adapt and accept things that you may necessarily not want to. That motherhood will also always take you back to that place of joy, even when there are moments where everything feels like it’s falling apart. Everything that we do, we do for our children and in return, our children teach us what kind of person we want to be.
I want to take a moment and share who inspires me as a mother. The first, is my mama!
I think it’s safe to say that I get my need to keep busy from her. Keeping the house clean and organized, having a home-cooked meal done everyday all while working full time, -she was always the mom in the background hustling. While I can’t say that I have it all together like she does, she definitely inspires me to want to take the time to provide for my family the way that she did.
The next is my darling sister Anna.
Even though I became a mother before she did (LOL) and she’s my older sister, (sorry sis, I keep getting mixed up as the older one and I’m setting the record straight!!) she inspires me to keep moving even though my life is so busy. Maybe without her knowing it, she inspires me to be my best self. She taught me that you can still make time for yourself even when you’ve got kids and a million excuses to not put yourself first. I still struggle with that, but I’m definitely a lot better!
I could share a list more women, but the last person I want to highlight as someone who inspires me is my maternal grandmother.
She, like I, had 3 children: 2 girls and 1 boy. While her life may not have been the easiest and she was faced with many adversities, she -to me, has never faltered in her soft kindness and honesty. She fiercely loves her children and still worries like any mother would of their child and adores every last one of her grandchildren. She is the grandmother I hope to become.
What an honor it is to be surround by so many amazing women in my life. I am sure all of you have a loving mother or grandmother deserving of so much this Mother’s Day!
As you may know I am offering a special gift box that is available for pre-order until tomorrow night only! It consists of a floral crown or bouquet with a half dozen “mama” sugar cookies. It is a wonderful way to celebrate those special ladies in your life AND help other mothers in need as a portion of the sales will go to the Cause We Care Foundation. The link to the pre-order is here.
I wish all of you mama’s and mama’s-to-be a lovely Mother’s Day next week. While every day as a mom is worth celebrating, it’s always nice to have a day to be recognized for all the hard work we do.
Happy Mother’s Day!
xo, Izabela