This is a guest post written by Myra Johnson from A Heart Full of Joy for our Welcoming Baby Series. Read more about Myra at the end of this post.

Hi friends! You are in for a treat to learn some great tips for welcoming a new baby home. These three tips will be such a great help to you as you make this transition in your life.

When I had the first of my five children, I didn't understand the importance of these things that I'm going to share with you, and I can tell you that I struggled a lot.

Out of necessity, I learned these key things, and I can tell you that they make all the difference. Are you ready?

Here are my top 3 tips for welcoming a new baby home.

Take care of yourself

Ok, I can hear it now. Take care of myself? When? How? There's no time for taking care of myself. I have to give, give, give... how on earth am I supposed to take care of myself?!

Let me help you out with this one.

No, I'm not talking about a long hot bubble bath while nibbling on your favorite chocolates. No, I'm not talking about a night out with the girls.

I'm talking about the really fundamental ways a mom needs to take care of herself - for her own sake, as well as her family's sake. This is such a huge deal in my heart that I wrote quite a bit about it in a post called “Fundamental Self- Care Ideas that Will Make You a Happier Mom.”

With all that is required of a mom, it's super easy for a mom to slip into one of two ways of dealing with things:

1. One is to give so endlessly that she feels like she becomes non-existent, like a doormat, and is only there to care for others
2. And the other is to become a little resentful of the demands and look for things outside of the family to help her feel valued and appreciated.

I'm here to tell you that neither of those two paths really provide joy or even a good resolution to the situation. But I can tell you from first-hand experience that the very best answer to dealing with all the demands of motherhood, is right where you are.

Learning how to care for yourself, with all the love and care that God wants for you, can be done right in the middle of giving your all to your family.

Think about it. If family is so important, and it is, then God should provide a way for a mother to be strengthened, helped, and supported in the middle of it all. To become a stronger and better person. And He does.

Yes, as moms we are to sacrifice and lose ourselves in the service of others. But there's a right way to do that. I encourage you to read what I've shared in the linked-to article above about fundamental self-care ideas, for it's too much to share here.

But I can tell you that motherhood is the garden where we can grow, and the training ground where we can become our very best selves.

Women who give our all to our families and also become the best version of ourselves in the process. I believe this is what God intends for us and our families.

So please believe me when I tell you that caring for yourself in the middle of it all is super important. And I'm here to help you see how to do that.

As you care for yourself, you will feel happier and your family will be happier. Total win-win, right?!

Remember: The baby IS the lesson

Ok, you may have heard this phrase before, that the baby IS the lesson. Whether you have or haven't heard of this before, it is really something worth looking into.

Some families homeschool, some don't. Some have older children, for some this is their first. Whatever your situation, you know as well as I do how busy life is. How totally crazy-busy life is.

With work, with a spouse, with children, with taking care of the house, with cooking, with ..... you name it.... all sorts of things.

We can be so busy and feel so 'required' by life to keep up with it all, that we can literally miss the most important things going on right in front of us.

In my view, bringing a new child into the world is one of the grandest things that can ever happen. And for me as a mom who has raised five kids, and whose youngest is now 14, I can tell you that time really does fly. Waaaaay too fast.

As I look back at things, I am so grateful to say that I really did put proper focus on things that mattered most. Not perfectly, no way. But I sure tried.

And I know that my husband and I and each of my kids value and cherish babies, children, and the joy that they bring to a family. Trust me, life really can be put on hold in a lot of ways when a new baby comes home.

You and everyone around you learns soooo much from these little ones. They teach such incredible life lessons just by being the cute little bundle that they are.

I encourage you with all my heart to let the world go by as best as you can for a good long while after you welcome a new baby home. You will be so glad you did.

You'll be so glad that you allowed your other children to just lay there and stare at their new little brother or sister, and that you didn't rush them off to clean their room. Yes, it has to get cleaned some time – but maybe, right now, it's ok to not to.

You'll be so grateful that your family learned to care for each other and to help out when mommy is nursing the baby. You'll be so glad when your kids feel love for their siblings, because they, too, got to dive into the wonder and joy of it all.

You'll be so glad. For the baby really is the lesson.

Let others serve you

I'm so proud of Brooke (the owner of this blog) for reaching out in advance and asking others to help her out with her blog for a month or so after she has her baby.

This is such a great move on her part as it assures that things on her blog will be taken care of while she snuggles on her new baby and it gives her the needed break she needs.

This affords her peace of mind so she isn't torn between all the things she “ought” to be doing, and the thing her heart wants to do, which is to focus on her baby and her family.

And the fact that she is asking for others to help her out in this way is a total blessing to us, too, since we get to share our hearts with her readers and expand our reach.

While this may be a bit of a different type of situation, it still falls under the category of “allowing others to serve you.”

She could have doubled down and written twice the amount of content ahead of time to get it all done herself, which she totally could have done very well. But the fact that she reached out for help not only blesses her, but it blesses others also.

And this really is the key...

As you are preparing to have a child and bring that adorable new baby home with you, I would deeply encourage you to consider how you can allow others to serve you.

I know in my neighborhood and church community, there are a lot of good people who would be very happy to bring in a meal, help take care of my other children for a couple of hours, drive one of my children to karate for me, etc. You name it, there are great options and opportunities out there.

Be creative and let the blessings flow. Sometimes as moms we feel like we really need to hunker down and do this mom thing while wearing a cape and never getting tired. Trying to do it all ourselves.

But there are definitely certain times in our lives, and I would say having a baby is definitely one of them, where it is such a blessing to us and others to allow others to serve you. To help you. To share the load a bit and care for each other.

I think that's the way the Lord would have us do it. To care for each other. To not only take care of others but to let others take care of us.

This helps provide rich blessings all around. I have a gift for you – 13, actually.

New babies have been on my mind a lot lately and I've been in a huge mood to make some fun nursery wall art as free printables for moms like you.

And of course I couldn't just make one or two, I had to make 13. 🙂 They are free and you are welcome to all of them. Just click on the image below and you'll be taken to where you can get all of this yummy nursery wall art.

Well, Mama, here you go! What a great time this is in your life. I wish you all the best that welcoming a new baby home has to offer.

I feel with all my heart that if you try your best to incorporate these 3 tips for welcoming a new baby home that your experience will be a great one.

I'm so grateful to Brooke for allowing me to help her with her blog while she's snuggling with her cute new baby and her sweet family.

All my love to you, Myra.

Hi! I'm Myra, the author of A Heart Full of Joy. I'm a happy wife and mom of five awesome kids and I absolutely LOVE being a mom! I want to help as many moms as I can to have a more joyful home. Come get your fill of inspiring ideas to be a happier mom and create a family life you love!