Anyone who has been pregnant before likely knows, “Just wait until…” comments are abundantly received: “Just wait until pregnancy gets more uncomfortable,” to “Just wait until you can’t sleep,” to “Just wait until your house is a mess.”

In early pregnancy, “Just wait until…” comments really saddened me — especially because we had weighed our decision to grow our family for nearly 10 years. Then, I remembered everyone approaches pregnancy, motherhood, and everyday living differently, and people are simply sharing their personal experiences. I’ve learned I can create my own version of these comments, like “Just wait until we meet our baby,” or “Just wait until we experience baby snuggles,” or “Just wait until we laugh and play together as a family.”

Having overcome many serious personal challenges, I have always relied on being unwaveringly positive — and that’s something I hope to continue relying on all pregnancy long. At 35 years old, I feel as though my experiences have prepared me for pregnancy and motherhood — as best they can — and I’m actively choosing to look forward to the changes and challenges ahead.

I believe, now more than ever, being positive and having a positive point of view can make a meaningful difference in the world — so today, I’m excited to share 10 things I’m looking forward to about motherhood.

10 Things I’m Looking Forward to About Motherhood

1. Meeting and getting to know our daughter. For the past few weeks, I’ve been saying to Ben, “I can’t believe she’s in there.” When we saw her kicking and pedaling during our 20-week anatomy scan, I started feeling so excited, knowing she is her own person — someone who we’ll soon meet, learn about, and get to know. I can’t wait to learn about her — what she likes, doesn’t like, or gravitates toward… Will she be silly? Calm? Energetic? I’m just excited to get to know who she is and who she’ll become.
2. Helping our daughter become the person she was made to be. When we discuss our hopes for parenthood, something Ben and I have discussed is how important it is to us that our daughter becomes the person she was made to be — not someone who is an extension of us or a reflection of us — but a person all her own. We see parenthood as an opportunity to help and guide her toward becoming a healthy, happy, fulfilled person — someone who will naturally be similar to us, but someone who we want to encourage to create and follow her own path, too.
3. Having both familiar and new experiences together as a new family. Ben and I moved to Minnesota nearly two years ago, and since then, we’ve discovered our favorite places to go and things to do in Minnesota. From our favorite parks to our favorite hiking trails, I’m excited to return to those familiar places as a new family of three and experience them in a new way. On the other hand, I’m excited to discover new places to go and things to do as a new family of three. I’m excited to go to the Children’s Museum, the Minnesota Zoo, and other places we haven’t yet been to as a family of two.
4. Seeing Ben as a dad. Ben is the most caring, warm, and genuine person I know. For the past several years, it’s been wonderful to see him as an uncle — and I’ve been really looking forward to seeing him as a dad! He’s been sharing encouraging words with Teeny all pregnancy long, so I know their relationship will be so special once she is here.
5. Creating a safe, loving, and welcoming home. I absolutely love decorating our home and making it as cozy as it can be. Over the years, I’ve loved having family and friends visit us, hosting get-togethers, and helping everyone feel welcome. For me, there is something so special and fulfilling about creating a safe, loving, and welcoming place for other people — and especially as I think about creating a cozy place for our baby. Lately, I’ve been daydreaming about redecorating our sunroom, so it serves as more of a playroom. Right now, it’s an open, airy, sunny room with lots of plants — but I’m envisioning a playmat area rug, a cozy chair and a half, and plenty of space for toys and playing.
6. Learning together. As we approach first-time parenthood, I try to remind myself we’ll be learning together — we’ll be getting to know her as much as she’ll be getting to know us. We’ll be learning what works well and what doesn’t work well… how we can create new routines or approach things as a new family of three.
7. Seeing the world through her eyes. Having answered our nephews’ unique, unexpected, and sometimes funny questions over the past several years, I’m so excited to hear what our daughter thinks about or asks about. I think there is something so special about how everything is brand new for children.
8. Creating family traditions. Ben and I have always loved holidays and creating traditions of our own: We do a ‘Thanksgiving Preview’ dinner the week before Thanksgiving, we watch certain movies during the winter holiday season, we listen to certain music when we’re cooking dinner together, and we build fun, simple joys into everyday life. As a new family of three, I’m excited to continue creating family traditions — and having as much fun as we can along the way.
9. Summer. Because Ben is a professor and has summers off of work, we had hoped and planned for a summer baby. I can’t even express how excited I am to give birth in summer — from opening our windows for fresh air to going for walks as a family, I’m just so excited we’ll be able to be out and about together. We registered for this outdoor lounger — which I hope will be so helpful in summer!
10. Gardening. One of my favorite childhood memories is gardening with my grandpa. Nowadays, Ben and I love gardening together — having plants indoors and growing a few veggies outdoors in summer. Though gardening together won’t happen in the near future, it is something I’m really looking forward to hopefully doing together in the years ahead.

I can’t believe we just have 18 weeks left until our baby arrives! I hope to continue focusing on the easy and fun parts of pregnancy — because it’s going by so quickly!

More Motherhood Posts

I’m sharing more about our journey in my Motherhood category. There, I’m gathering up my favorite resources and documenting pregnancy week by week!