The Joys of Motherhood...

This week I thought I'd particpate in Mama Kat's Writers Workshop since I am trying to get back into blogging. I've neglected it for quite some time now.

The prompt I chose was 10 things I didn't know until I was a mom. I could probably write a heck of a lot more than 10 things...but I'll stick to the assignment. After all, no one likes the teacher's pet...the over-achiever...the kiss ass. LOL!

So the ten things that motherhood has taught me, that I would not have learned if I had not given birth to the best children on the planet (sorry to burst your bubble but my kids are better than yours...okay, maybe I take that back as I watch my 2 year old in the beginning of a temper tantrum) are as follows:

1. The love. Yes, it's cliche. Everyone hears "you never know love until you have a child" but it's true. Any parent can tell you how true it is. No matter what your child does, that love will always be there. It's an awesome feeling that I am so happy I am able to experience! That hug, that smile, that giggle, that accomplishment are such AMAZING moments and there is nothing in this world that can EVER be better than feeling like that!

2. Poop, puke, snot and other bodily secretions no longer bother me. Well let me clarify. If I see your kid out and about with green snot hanging down to their chin and poop coming out of their pants...that bugs. But my precious children?? It doesn't bother me. I have been pooped on, puked on, and had snot smeared all over me. And I am okay with that! Really...I am! :)

3. Patience. If you know me...patience is not my strong suit. I never really had some before children. Never really cared to have any (bad quality I know). I didn't know what patience really entailed until I became a mom. You basically HAVE to be patient...or at least try your best to be. So those days filled with temper tantrums from the 2 year old and screaming and crying from the newborn REALLY test my patience and it's amazing that I still have some left! (Even some left for the husband when he's bugging me!) But I learned how important it is to acquire that quality and put it to use. :)

4. Messy houses are okay. There are times this house literally looks like a tornado came through here. Some days there are dishes in the sink (when we have a dishwasher), diaper bags on the table, papers on the desk in the office, clothes on the floor in my bedroom, an unmade bed, make up left out in the bathroom, and pans needing to still be washed from the breakfast the morning before last. BUT...all of that is okay. It's okay because it's replaced by a giggling, smiling 2 year old, a happy wife, a happy husband, and a happy newborn. All those things are meaningless if there isn't happiness in the home. Sure, they get cleaned up and are rarely a mess for long...but sometimes (especially when hubby is on shift)...it looks like that.

5. Temper tantrums can be quite comical. I use to HATE watching other kids have temper tantrums (thinking Nanny 911 tantrums) but now that we have our own in our house...sometimes...they actually make me laugh. In fact, sometimes I have been known to whip out the video camera and film them. :)

6. Sleep is over-rated. Okay...it's not really but that's what I tell myself. Sure, I get SOME sleep, but definitely not as much as the average person, or even the husband. I think a mom never truly sleeps, ever. We are always half-asleep. We are asleep just enough in order to hear our children cry out in their sleep. We are asleep just enough to still be able to hear the toddler snoring. We are asleep just enough to hear the newborn stir in her sleep and listen intently for her to be breathing. We are asleep just enough to wake up on time and make sure the husband is getting up and ready for work and hasn't pressed snooze one too many times. Sure, we technically sleep, but not like our husbands. Not like our friends and family without children. Not like we use to before we became a mom.

7. I didn't know that it is okay to give up a huge part of yourself to become a mom. It's something I have been struggling with lately. I gave up a HUGE part of who I was for the past 18 years of my life to be a stay at home mom. Eighteen years is more than half of my age so giving up my career to be home with the kids has NOT been easy for me. But...recently I read some things that put it all into perspective and I would have never have learned unless I was a mom. Sure, I had more money before but as someone said...no purse, no boat, no fancy car will ever feel as good as hearing your baby's giggle. The other one I heard was "you have a lifetime to work, but children are only young once". It's so true. So I am learning that it's okay to let my career, my work, the big part of who I was go and enter into this new role as a mom, a role model, a friend, a mentor. No job could ever be as important as this one and I am learning to accept that, no matter how hard it is.

8. If I had never became a mom, I would have never known how truly hard this job is and how hard my mom worked to provide for my brother and I. I think the moment you become a mother yourself, you gain a new appreciation for your mother. You learn just what she went through. My mom made it look so easy and I learned now as a mom myself that it wasn't easy for her either. I am sure she was just as sleep deprived, just as worried about if she was making the right decisions, just as insecure if she was doing right by her kids, just as worried about our well-being and safety. I am sure she worried about the choices she made and worried how they would affect us. I am sure she worried about our first day of kindergarten, our first day of high school, the first time we took the car out on our own (which she had a right to worry about me...I crashed it...into my dad's neighbor). I am sure she cried when we cried, laughed when we laughed, and didn't sleep when we were sick or when we were out past her own bedtime. Oh how I love my mom and oh how much of a role model she is for me! I truly hope I can provide my kids just as much as my mom provided for us.

9. You CAN rationalize with a two-year old. At least that is what I am telling myself. If you have a two-year old you know you can rationalize with them too. For those of you laughing at me because you think it can't be done...shut it and let me live in my fantasy world!

10. Nap time and bed time can be the happiest times of the day and can make a bad mood (yours not the childs) instantly better. :)

I wouldn't give my role as a mom up for ANYTHING. The two of them have brought me such a joy no other thing in this world could ever re-create. I am truly truly blessed. Thanks Mama Kat for reminding me what it's all about! Now time to whip out the boob, cause a temper tantrum with the toddler because I am about to make her stop playing Pocket God on my phone, and get on with my day!