I WANT TO REMEMBER THIS PHASE

Guest Post by Cassie Lynn Hilt

I woke up the other morning and found this picture on my phone.

You see, right now I'm in the trenches. The newborn trenches, that is. But that night was my husband's turn to get up with the baby. And after changing, feeding, and putting the baby down, he snuck this picture of me and my daughter (who crawled into bed with us at some point during the night).

Normally when I see a picture of myself that I haven't 'posed' for, I never post it. And I generally get annoyed at whoever took it. But not this time. This picture was different.

Because these past few weeks have been rough. You forget how much work babies are. How exhausted you become, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Add two more kids to the mix, and you just feel drained. All. The. Time.

My days are filled with changing diapers, rocking babies, wiping tears, cleaning spills, doing laundry, washing dirty dishes, and endless snack times.

I don't get a shower in every day. My eyes are puffy and have bags from the lack of sleep. My clothes most likely have some sort of spit-up or food stain on them. My hair is in a permanent mom bun. My makeup is nowhere to be seen.

And this picture shows it all. It's not glamorous, but it's a picture of one of the hardest jobs there is---motherhood.

I want to remember this phase of my life. I need this picture to remind me because sometimes when you're in the trenches, you forget that you'll miss it someday.

I won't necessarily miss the sleepless nights, but rather, holding my babies and rocking them to sleep. Feeling their little chests breathe in and out, while their little fingers wrap around mine.

I won't necessarily miss the crying fits, but rather, the ability I have to calm my children down with just an embrace and a kiss on the forehead.

I won't necessarily miss cleaning up the spilled milk, but rather, I'll miss the ability to be able to clean up their messes with only soap and water.

I won't necessarily miss waking up with a sore neck and back from sharing the bed with my children. But someday, I will miss waking up to their faces next to mine in the morning. I will miss waking up to those morning cuddles.

This is the phase I want to remember.

This phase of motherhood, although it can be exhausting and overwhelming, I don't ever want to forget it.

So remind your husband, your spouse, your partner. Remind them to take these pictures of you.

Be proud of these pictures.

Because these are the ones you'll want to remember.

(This post originally appeared on The Chronicles of Motherhood)

About the author: Cassie is a working mother of three small kiddos. She works on maintaining the delicate balance of work/mommy/wife life and making sure she doesn’t run out of wine before payday.She enjoys writing in her free time and chronicling the adventures of being a mom. She has contributed to sites such as The Huffington Post, Her View From Home, Scary Mommy and Sammiches & Psych Meds. Her work has also been featured on Babble, PopSugar Moms, and Love What Matters. You can follow her on Facebook at The Chronicles of Motherhood. She’s also on Twitter and Instagram, and you can visit her website at www.cassiehilt.com