Mother’s Day Celebration

I planned on writing some inspirational post for Mother’s Day or a sappy mama letter to my boys, but as I sit down to write this, that motivation just isn’t there so we’ll see what happens. Today Isaiah is 6 months, and he was up every hour the last 2 nights. I think his best stretch of sleep in the last 6 months has been 4 hours. Most nights he’s up every 2 hours.  Needless to say this mama is tired. Tired, delirious, and insanely scatterbrained.

Everyone always tells you how hard those newborn months are, but 2-3 months of no sleep is nothing compared to 6.  In the newborn stage, no one expects anything of you but to feed the baby.  At 6  months you should have it down.  Stay up all night, get ready, make breakfast, go to work, take on extra responsibilities like training, pump, make time to check on how things are going at home, pump some more, find time to eat, go home and feed the baby, cook for everyone, keep the toddler from killing the baby  or himself, put everyone to bed, pump, clean up after the day, do dishes, make time for your spouse, make time for yourself, go to bed, and then sit in a rocking chair for 15 minutes every hour all night before doing it all over again.

As mamas, we are kind of expected to do it all.  We can also sometimes get caught up in this idea of a pity party over it or complaining about it. Or worse even, comparing our lists and expectations to those of other women, or men like our husbands.  But instead of complaining about all the stuff we have to do, don’t you think we could make better use of our time celebrating that we can do all of this? Seriously.  Look at the list of things you do in a day and be proud of that. Own your day and your accomplishments, and have confidence in it.

And when it is too much, realize this and demand help unapologetically.  Set boundaries.  Delegate work.  Make part of your list to walk away from it once in a while, without the guilt.  They will all be fine. Trust me.

Just like the way your baby made his way into this world.  Pregnancy, labor, and childbirth are hard. It’s painful hard work, but it’s freaking amazing.  Our bodies create life, and then care for this life for years to come.

There is so much power in realizing that you have done all of this, not that it has been done to you.

This Mother’s Day, I’m tired.  I’m overwhelmed. But I’m not going to fall into the trap of dwelling on it, and throwing myself a pity party.  Instead, I’m throwing a mom’s can do it all celebration.  I’m going to dance with my babies, because there ain’t no mama like the one they got.  And there isn’t a better mama for your babies than you.  You’ve got this Mama.  Happy Mother’s Day!