Later Mom: Wouldn’t Change It If I Could By Lori Loesch

To watch me in action, especially when my daughter was younger, you would have thought that I had never raised a child in my life.  Enter my first born, he will soon turn twenty – one, and he made it through school.  With honors, I might brag!  I’m very proud of my kids.  Now back to my second born, for which this blog is dedicated. Because without her,  none of this would have been possible.  She is eleven (11) years younger than her brother and, in those eleven years,  it felt as though I had forgotten how to raise a baby.  I think that she was so tiny and came home with so many strict instructions for every aspect of her life, that I, how do you say…froze, forgot all past memory of the fact that I did raise a fine young man.  

My son was mature enough and old enough to be a help to me.  I could go on and on about how he helped me with everything from lifting heavy cat litter boxes, to making dinner for not only himself, but also for the whole family.  I could see that he loved his baby sister, I could see that she adored her big bro, bro.  It was so cute to hear her say his name when she was little.  My son, was a lot of help.  I can’t say for sure, because I haven’t researched it, but it would seem reasonable enough to me to say that an 11 year old is far more capable of doing chores and helping out with the baby, then say…a three year old.  For that I was fortunate.  

I felt very young when I had my second child at the age of 42.  Maybe even better than I felt with my first born, at age 31.  I worked through my first pregnancy, and there was precious little time to exercise, nor did I have the energy for it after a day’s work.  I was a stay at home mom when I was carrying my second.  I walked my two German Shepherds everyday, without fail.  They needed it and looked forward to it as  much as I did.  I, in the early stage of my pregnancy, lifted weights.  I was better informed when the second came along, and I had so much more time at home than I had with my first.  I took naps when I was tired, a luxury I didn’t have when I worked with my first born.  

One of the most difficult things, with being a later mom, is getting my child to elementary school on time, or at all.  It’s not all the time, but on cold, dark mornings, when she’s not feeling 100%, it’s tough to get her moving. It’s tough for me to get moving!  I just don’t take to the cold as I did when I was younger.  On mornings like this, I rely on my son to encourage his little sister to get out of bed and get to school.  He doesn’t have to do much really, he just needs to question why she’s still in bed.  Does she have a delay today?  My answer is no… and then I hear little footsteps pitter pattering to the living room!  

As I was driving my daughter to elementary school, the temperature was below zero,  and I thought to myself that I was probably the only mom, taking off my scarf, removing my hat, unzipping my coat, and then putting down the window, because I was hot!  Yes, hot flashes.  They come and they go and then they come back again.  I read that a later mom was having a hot flash in the middle of a diaper change.  I may have read that in a Motherhood Later than Sooner blog. So, I’m good…I’m much like she.

I’m so glad that I found Motherhood Later than Sooner. I needed to hear from moms that are my age, with a nine year old.  I read another blog that listed the differences between Later moms and Sooner moms.  I laughed in spite of myself!  It felt good to laugh at myself and to see that I am not alone.  Being a later mom, life is sometimes harder than it was when I was younger, but I wouldn’t change it if I could.  

Tags: hot flashes, later motherhood, menopause, raising kids