My baby is 10 months old today.

I've been a mother for ten months now and I still can't believe it. I'm a mother? Yes. I'm a mother. I am responsible for a tiny helpless and dependent person. As a teenager, I often imagined what it would be like. In my mind, I was very different. I looked different, I talked different, and I was old. Now that I AM a mother, I don't feel different. I'm the same person who, 10 years ago, imagined what it would be like. This probably makes no sense, but I guess it doesn't really make sense to me either. What I do know is, this is definitely another one of those points in my life when I am reminded of just how little I really knew about real life as a teenager.

These last ten months have been the hardest and most exhausting of my life, but they have also been the most rewarding. Having a child has humbled me like nothing else could. Before every decision I make, I wonder about what would be best for my daughter--what would be a good example, what would help her to grow and learn, what would make her happy. Every night, before I go to bed, I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with another day to spend with her on this earth. I love my little girl in a way I didn't know was capable, in a way I could never have imagined... especially not as a teenager wondering what motherhood will be like.