It occurred to me the other day that I have been carrying around diapers in bags for over nine years, pretty much straight through. My lifetime as a mother has run the gamut in so many different ways; I began as a working mom of one and then two babies, moved to Manhattan and started a business while raising two, then three babies from our apartment, and finally transitioning back to the suburbs and welcoming two pets and one more baby along with a full time job. It has been the most incredible experience, so much so that it’s hard to imagine life at all prior to having a family.
Everything about me as a person has changed since becoming a parent, but likely the most obvious is my ability to organize and keep (most) things tidy. I never used to wear a watch or keep track of anything in an orderly way, but the effect of motherhood on my ability to be successful in any way, shape, or form is fully leveraged on how organized my life. Through the process of trial and error-mostly error-I have discovered that in order to have a well-planned and smooth day with children and babies, most everything needs to be pre-accounted for. I don’t leave home without my calendar alerts set in my phone and a bag packed with everything we need for the afternoon’s activities. Over the years and through the very drastic changes in our lifestyle, there have been a few constants that apply no matter how many children we have, our mode of transportation or what our schedule looks like.
We pretty much always need diapers, wipes, snacks and various types of medicine or bandages at any given point in time, and our entire activity or time of day is leveraged on whether or not we have these important things. Essentially, this is the story of my evolution from the Hot Mess Mom to the Type A Mom with Hot Mess Tendencies over the course of nine years and four children and the bag that helped me transition to the organized wonder that I am lately. The Lily Jade line is fantastic for many reasons, but specifically I’ve found that they are fully functional and incredibly transitional. Most of their bags come with a washable, removable organizer and I love that the Rosie can be either a handle bag or a cross-body, especially when I am baby-wearing. It seems that at an given time of day I can be headed to the gym, the baseball or soccer fields, a school function or a work event, and I can bring the Lily Jade Rosie to all of them and feel as though I’m completely prepared and (!) even put together.
Over the course of this beautiful, messy, wonderful and sometimes precarious journey of motherhood, I’ve learned so much about myself, the kind of person I am, and most importantly the kind of parent I want to be. Being able to be present, accountable, engaged and passionate about these things is top on my priority list, and I feel fortunate to have found a few tools along the way to help me achieve those things.
This is my #StoryOfMotherhood, and I’d love to hear yours. Share your #StoryOfMotherhood below for a chance to win a Lily Jade bag of your own! Good Luck!!
The Lily Jade #storyofmotherhood Giveaway!
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