Embracing the Mama Bear inside

Before I was pregnant I never really understood when people would talk about their "mama bear" tendencies. But about a month before our due date, as I prepared for the little one's arrival I started to think in terms of being that protective mama bear. It kind of caught me off guard, but in a good way because I started thinking about anticipating how I would care for my little one even though I hadn't even laid on eyes on her yet.

And now that I'm nearly seven months into motherhood, I'm learning all about that inner mama bear. The mama bear in me can make once simple decisions painful; like when I can't stop thinking about how I'll handle travel for work and the first night I'll be away from my baby. Will I be able to sleep? If I do sleep, does that make me less of a mother?

There's obviously still some work to be done on the embracing that mama bear thing, especially when it comes to doing the hard things. This past week I had to make a tough decision as a mother and it finally came down to realizing either way, the outcome will be a challenge for me. I've had plenty of challenges before, so I'm doing my best to meet this new role head-on and take each decision in stride.

Thankfully, taking a few cute photos with my baby girl wasn't much of a challenge last weekend. When I heard about Katie's bi-weekly link up of mamas and babies, I knew Maggie and I had to join in! Oh, and don't mind the dog.