I have been a mom for a very short period of time, so I'm definitely not the authority on the subject. However, here are a few words of wisdom from what I do know:
1. Don't wear white. Every single time I wear a white shirt/dress/skirt/whatever, Jasmine bleeds, smears chocolate or mud, or spills something red. Every time. I still wear white because I am stubborn, but they pretty much all have stains half-scrubbed out somewhere. My sleeve right now has a little red spot I pretend not to notice.
2. Read all the books! Or even the same book over and over again, which is more likely. Jasmine is only 15 months old, but I already see her read to herself and she brings me books all the time. My love of reading was passed down to me from my mom, and I hope to pass the same to her.
3. Pray with your babies. For the first little while, I didn't really pray with Jasmine or read her scriptures a ton because I thought, She doesn't really know what's going on, we'll start doing that later. When she was about 7 months old I started praying with her every night, and we've been doing family scripture study every night for a little less than a year. A few weeks ago, completely unprompted, Jasmine folded her arms during the prayer before dinner. Now she bows her head and will even get the scriptures out when she's tired. I'm so glad we started praying and reading scriptures with her!
4. Don't feel bad about your bad days. Even just typing that I know every parent will feel bad about their bad days, even when someone tells them not to. I had a day a week or two ago that I felt like I just stunk as a parent. I didn't read to Jasmine like I wanted to, I didn't pay enough attention when she was trying to babble to me, I was too busy with myself all day. But guess what? The next day I did awesome and Jasmine and I had a great day! In the grand scheme of things, I've done more things right as a mom than wrong.
5. Let people give you advice, then go do whatever the heck you want. I actually had someone say this to me when Jasmine was born, and it has been one of the most solid pieces of advice I have ever received. It doesn't hurt me or them at all to listen politely to advice given from the heart, but in the end, you are the parent; make your own decisions. You know best.
6. Soak in every last moment. Everyone says this, but it's true. I miss little teeny-tiny Jasmine more than I thought I would, but now I get to enjoy every moment of toddler Jasmine while I still can! Because I'm sure before I know it she's going to be 5 and going off to school, 8 and getting baptized, 12 going into Young Women's, 14 going to High School, then BAM 18 and off at college. I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it :( Every moment is precious.
