Welcome to Mom Motivation Mondays where weekly contributing writers share their motherhood experiences to encourage you to find the joy in being a mom.

{This week: Post by Jaimi}

I didn’t really expect these challenges of motherhood to show up. My confidence that I was going to be able to keep my household clean, organized, calm and happy all the time was a bit irrational-yes-but the truth. Yep, I was a confident one going in to motherhood. Then the challenges of motherhood over the first five years made me exchange all of that confidence for experience.

The first five years of motherhood are unique. Children don’t speak all that well, or at least very rationally, during this time. Kids don’t know that you know anything, and most of the time they don’t care. Their world view is based on what they want and that they are hungry…again…for the 5th time this hour!

I went into motherhood thinking if I could feed the child, clothe the child, keep their life in a routine, teach them where the boundaries were located, and that I would enforce them, that life would move smoothly.

Guess again!

Even the moms who have a plan and are confident in motherhood (and I count myself as one) feel challenged by it. The challenges of motherhood over the first few years of your child’s life are unique.

Challenges of Motherhood

1. Sleep deprivation. ‘Nuff said.

2. Feeding..and eating…constantly. Yes they need to eat again! (And they will need to eat MORE than anyone ever tells you both when breastfeeding or bottle feeding as infants and when they are older.)

3. Teething..evil. You want to help, but it’s nature and so hard to have a baby in pain.

4. Tantrums (twos).

5. Defiance (threes).

6. Know-it-alls (fours).

7. Laundry…oh, so much laundry!

8. Friendships. Because for a few years it seems that you will never find that great friend! Life revolves around the kids, and it has to for a time. (Try Wanted: Mom Friends.)

9. Finding yourself (or just not losing yourself in motherhood).

10. Patience.

11. MORE patience, because you really can never have enough.

12. Noise. (You are so important that everyone will want to talk to you or be with you all at the same time. And, a warning for you, the more kids you have the louder it gets!)

13. Me time is a precious commodity. It sometimes just doesn’t fit in with the hours in a day. That is just a season, but you can try to fit in moments of me time with these ideas.

14. Weight. During pregnancy you have to gain weight to be healthy. The post partum period of time everyone wants you to lose your weight so fast that you could harm your ability to breastfeed your child. (Tip: Fitness is more important than body size.)

15. Faith. I can not stress this enough. It’s importance is #1, but I wanted to end with it, because it should be on our minds all the time. You can’t find peace, contentment, or joy despite the challenges without Faith. You can’t. Without the belief that there is a plan for your life-even in the season of caring for your kids-you will feel that motherhood pulls more out of you than it gives you in return.

Grab some of these devotions for moms. Join other moms in learning about being faithful. Soak it in, and relish this blessing.

No doubt, the challenges of motherhood, no matter how far into your experience you are, will wear you down. It will make you question everything. The beauty in the mess of being a mom is that you will rise stronger, impacting the lives of your family in ways that, when measured, are far greater in value than any number you can imagine.

Hang in there. Enjoy the journey.

What challenges of motherhood would you add to this list?