Motherhood is often just talked about as that love at first sight. 

That moment your eyes first see their little face. 

That moment they are first nuzzled up to your face. 

But the love a mother feels for her baby starts long before that. 

It starts as a dream playing house and mimicking her own mother—the memories that flood in and make her swoon with weak knees when the two lines go blue. 

RELATED: Dear Baby, I Already Love You

It starts when the strange little wand finds that rhythmic “woosh-woosh-woosh” heartbeat. 

It’s when her eyes first see that grainy black and white abstract image and then suddenly a silhouette profile of a little face she feels like she has known her whole life. 

It’s that night she feels the first flutters and topsy-turvy rolls that are suddenly unmistakably not the spicy burrito she had for dinner. 

It’s a love the deepens and grows in the little moments—in the little movements—that a mother’s love doubles tenfold over and over. 

A mother’s love is made in moments. 

Solidified in the ones exchanged between her and baby. 

It is what sets a foundation for a lifetime of memories ahead. 

The morning sleepy yawning newborn squishy wiggles. 

The late nights filled with their steady, slowing sweet-smelling breaths. 

The moments when time freezes and she catches a glimpse of her baby’s quivering lower lip that happens right before they are going to cry. 

The fleeting moments filled with a squished-up nose as their giggles build up and suddenly break out loud, filling the room with squeals. 

RELATED: Lord, Please Don’t Let Me Forget

The first time they start to kick and splash in the bath with intention. 

Those scanning, curious baby eyes that lock into hers, exchanging what feels like a secret only the two of them know. 

So let’s recognize these moments that build one of the greatest love stories we will ever know. 

Motherhood.