They will be called Mom...

I just did another round of putting sleeping babies to bed and started thinking about what sweet mommies these girls will be.

This just hit me so hard tonight. THEY, my girls, will be MOM. They will get it. They will finally know how much I love them.  They will feel like baby stuff is every where. They will potentially want to sit in their closet for 5 minutes and cry because of this. They will walk over things and around things. They will eat things that are questionable. They may forget to bathe. They may will curse having boobs. They will be in love and be crazy all at the same time. 

Because, they will be Mom. 

And there is so much about being Mom that I want my girls to know. 

I want them to know no one has ever been more correct than Elizabeth Stone when she said, "Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart walking around outside your chest." 

I want them to know that their compassion will grow at an astonishing rate. They will never read a news story or book or article in the same way again. Because all of those people on a page could be their child. 

I want them to know that there is no more beautiful grace than the forgiveness of a child when a parent has screwed up. 

I want them to know that they will become the crazy ladies in the store that look disheveled and hungover but are really just tired and overwhelmed. 

I want them to know that they thought they loved their husbands and then he will become a dad and they will love him even more. 

I want them to know that all the books, blog posts, magazines and research won't do anything for them. That they decide their path in motherhood and that path may be flawed. That path may be messy. That path may be nothing like the storybooks. But that path is theirs, chosen by Him, for them. 

I want them to know that asking for help may be the bravest thing they do. 

I want them to know that they will become stronger than they ever imagined. Physically, spiritually, emotionally. 

I want them to know that those quick trips to Target that once included spur of the moment purchases for themselves will become a survival of the fittest expedition when the only thing in the cart for them will be something lame like nursing pads. 

I want them to know that loving their children will be the easiest thing in the world to do. 

Above all, I want them to know that once upon a time, they were MY babies. And I, too, know what it feels like to fall in love at first sight. That feeling of the first snuggle. The last nursing session. And the heart ache when the rocking chair gets put away for good. I know the dance of stepping over toys and moving around forts. I know the struggle of days filled with nothing but the sound of sibling squabbles. The exhaustion of late nights followed by earl mornings. The joy from all of the firsts. I know every inch of them and every depth of their souls. 

I want them to know that I only every prayed for them to be happy and healthy. Safe and secure. Loved and heard. I want them to love each other. To know God. 

Oh yes. One day, they will be "Mom",  but they will always be my babies.