She's the best!
Jodie Ashby from the Hawkes Bay has nothing but gratitude for her mum.
In her own words...
My mother and I have always had a close relationship, but it's said that mothers and daughters are closest when daughters become mothers. For my mother and I, this couldn't be more true!
Two years ago, July 18, 2011, came the birth of my son, Mason. What made it even more special was that it was my mother's 50th birthday. From that day forward, a bond between grandson and “Grammy”, and mother and daughter was forged. She told me that as soon as she laid eyes upon him, the love was instant, just like it was with me.
I didn't realize how much I needed her until she left my husband and I to fend for ourselves a few days after I was discharged from hospital (she knew we needed our own time to bond as a family). I was a blubbering mess! I could have blamed it on hormones but the reality was, my mother was leaving, which meant I had to be the mother.
Over the next two years, she travelled two hours every other week to spend time with Mason and inadvertently teach me how to mother. Mum was there, wiping away the tears when breastfeeding was difficult. She was there to rock Mason to sleep when my arms were tired (and even when they weren't). She was there for the sleepless nights, taking turns alongside my husband and I to settle him. When we all came down with tummy bugs, knowing she would catch it too, she was there. She even came to Sydney with us while we visited friends and babysat, we turned it into a holiday and the whole family came!
With the arrival of baby number two, Mum held the fort at home and spent weeks entertaining Mason while we got to know our new bundle of joy.
She taught me that you can never kiss and cuddle your babies enough, that chubby babies are the cutest - so feed, feed, feed, enjoy all the precious moments while you can, don't wish them to grow up too soon, don't overuse the word “no”, laugh often and that baby talk is an actual language!
I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful mother to learn from and even better still, a wonderful grandmother to my children.
