A MOTHER FIRST: Motherhood goals for 2024

Happy New Year and welcome to the second post which is part of my Mother First series. I wanted to start the year talking about some of my goals within fashion, lifestyle and motherhood so I will be spending each week this month sharing with you all some of my goals in this area for the New Year. Starting off with Motherhood, I am going to share everything that I would like to focus on this year in terms of life with my little one but also for myself. 

We are coming up to 8 months into this crazy, wild, life changing experiences of becoming a mama and every day, I feel like I learn a little more about my baby and learn a little more about who I want to be for her and for myself. Setting ‘motherhood goals’ isn’t actually something that seems to be common but it I wouldn’t be surprised if it is something that all us mamas might do in our minds, which in turn just adds to our never-ending internal list that covers just about literally everything! I think that is also why it was important for me to use this months’ first of the month to talk through my own personal goals just so I can free up some thinking space in my own head!

Introducing travel

We had the most perfect baby moon planned. Our fully committed last hurrah, cultural and foodie trip. It was supposed to be something that was 100% us, for the very last time and for a little while at least. We had to cancel that trip due to the fact that I had some complications occur midway through my 2nd trimester. It was the right thing to do at the time and we had held on to the fact that we would have a few more trips after Lettuce was born anyway so that also kept us in a positive headspace. Well it turns out none of the other trips happened either which meant that for the first time in my adult life, I was going to have an entire year without travelling abroad. A first world problem, of course! But those who know me know that travel is my heart and soul. 

I’d never been one to just sit on a beach, although right now that sounds like the absolute dream! Whenever I have travelled in the past, I have been enriched and engrossed by other cultures, had spent time seeking out and trying all the local and recommended foodie spots and most importantly, I’d make time to shop at all the pretty little boutiques. Not being able to do any of that last year was more difficult than I expected it to be. I think this was mainly because I was once again reminded that my life has really changed and that I don’t have full control over how and where I want to spend my time. It was also a reminder that I have to listen to my body and now with my Lettuce in my life that is all more important that it has ever been.  

This year, I want to make up for lost time and lost experiences and make sure that travel with my little one is top priority. I have already begun the research into the best places to take a baby but even with that, I am still open to testing the waters with travelling to places that haven’t come highly recommended. Being able to travel and see and experience the world is so important to me that I want to share and install this into my little ones’ life from now. I always say more returns but time doesn’t and because of that, I don’t want to waste another second wondering if, when, or how I’ll make a trip happen, I just want to do it.

Be more present

I have exactly two months left of my maternity leave and I need to make it count. When people say it flies by and that you should enjoy every second, listen to them. The time has gone so quickly that I can’t even waste a second being emotional about it. I need to be present. 

Once the very difficult days were over, being more present became a main priority for me. The fear of it all being over in a blink of an eye is very scary to me so because of that feeling, this goal is even more important to me. I want to be more present by dedicating time during the week to actually attend all of her baby groups, set up play dates and just by doing more at home with her. 

All that being said, I don’t want to go into the year adding even more pressure onto myself as us mums know, the mum guilt is already so difficult to manage at times. I want to somehow make this a natural part of who I am with baby Lettuce and put this to practice everyday until it really does happen without too much effort. 

Be more intentional with my days 

Being more intentional with my days goes hand in hand with my previous goal. For a while we were going to 3 baby groups a week, nothing intense like a 40 baby sensory class or something, but just sing along groups and one being more of a stay and play/mum social. I want my days with baby to be more intentional and what that means to me is that I would like to add a little more structure in my days. This is not some sort of pressure to be ‘perfect’ but its more so a thing that I wish to do to make myself feel better and hopefully less overwhelmed at times (we hope!).  

I know no two days are really the same and that there is no such thing as a ‘perfect day’ as a mum but having a broad routine which doesn’t just focus on feeding and sleeping is something that I also feel is important and is also a way to help me remain present with my little one. I want plan days that include more reading time, more education, more play time and more sensory play especially as she’s growing up so fast and needing these key elements as part of her day anyway. 

Work on me

I’m a huge believer in personal growth and believe that everyone should work to be a better person for themselves and others any way that they can. This philosophy didn’t change for me after motherhood and in fact, I think it has only intensified. So far on this journey, I haven’t had the time nor the energy to really sit and think about who I want to grow into and when and how I want to get there. 

This year I aim to give myself just that, time and to make sure that I have the energy to look inwards and work towards a better me and a healthy me. As they say, a happy mama means a happy baby and even though I have been able to show up for my little one, I want to be able to show up more authentically and the only way to do that is to make sure that I am also putting myself first too. 

So here’s to more me time, more intentional days, more travel and to being more present! I hope that everyone has a wonderful start to this New Year and is able to find the time to really understand what they also want from the year too.