Waking Up Daily as Mama

We wake up each day to the sounds of little baby cries or to the feeling of a toddler's foot in our face. We wake up groggy and not completely refreshed, because unfortunately our night of sleep was completely hap hazard due to a few nighttime feedings (and those toddler feet that crept into our bed). Yet, we wake up and we are ready to tackle the day no matter how weak our coffee is or how heavy our eyes are. 

We make the triangle shaped pancakes that are not good enough because triangles are not hearts. We then heat up the instant oatmeal because after enough tears and tantrums, we *occasionally* give in. I mean, we know that gluten free, sugar pancake batter probably didn't taste too good anyway. 

We clean the kitchen up and wipe sticky hands ALL.DAY.LONG. I'm pretty sure the true testament to knowing that someone has kids is that the kitchen rarely ever stays clean. What am I saying though, the house rarely stays clean. That's a true testament to having kids. 

We balance the mornings of trying to make ourselves look a little decent, all while having a baby stick her hands in the toilet and a toddler smash your best eye shadow from Sephora. We answer the "We can go play after mommy gets dressed" question around 31 times in ten minutes and every time we answer it we feel a little less like supermom. I mean, can't supermom get it ALL done without ever feeling guilty?

Finally after kitchen cleanup, teeth brushing and eye shadow massacres, we make our way outside to play fairies and princesses. We swing and we think about how awesome we are doing. Until that is, that we remember we forgot to put the sunscreen on, the baby just shit herself and the toddler's shoes are on the wrong feet. Ten minutes after fairy play and we are back inside to tackle the forgotten and overlooked (and pooped) tasks of motherhood. So much for feeling like a boss...

Lunch time is no different than breakfast time. One day blueberries are the shit and the next day they are tiny little monsters with evil eyes. And again, we clean the kitchen up. We ponder over the thought of tonight's dinner, because well, cooking with kids is not always easy and that requires more kitchen cleanup. 

Building castles and folding clothes becomes a normal, a multitasking normal, just like scrubbing toilets with a baby clinging to you. Nap time is a sacred time that moms all around the world Thank God for every day. And moms of more than one who get their babies to nap at the same time, cry tiny tears of joy each and every time. It's that damn special. 

Somehow, the time after naps is met with trying to tackle ALL the things we didn't yet do, and manage cooking dinner and mixing more outside play in. Maybe even a little puzzle building, sight words review and coloring will happen to because after all, we have to help these little beings learn. We balance brushing Barbie's hair while stirring the pot of whatever homemade goodness we could come up with. Because I mean, aren't children supposed to have homemade food and not boxed food with overly processed ingredients? Sigh. 

We want to do it all, conquer it all and somehow still remain sane while doing it. We have to be it ALL for everyone. We have to be there for our husbands whether it's emotionally, physically or intimately. We have to be there for our children day and night, no matter if we stay at home, work at home or work away from home. No matter what, mama ALWAYS has the answer. Mama is the cure to the booboos, the cure to the teething baby and the one who knows how to braid Barbie's hair. Mama is the one who usually scrubs the dishes after everyone is asleep and mama is the one who makes sure everyone has clean clothes to wear tomorrow. 

We are stretched to our limits sometimes. We are worn thin, we are completely exhausted and sometimes we feel like we simply can't be enough for everyone (ya know, like when your husband wants to "canoodle" for like the third time this week and you just want to sleep). 

We can't ever seem to play enough with our children because well, crap has to get done sometimes. The cries of a toddler wanting nothing more than mommy to play with them, as mom tries to balance it all, is possibly the worst of all cries. The feeling of defeat, and the feeling of waving our little white flag in surrender is always on the brink of approaching. 

Yet, we do it. We wake up each day as Mama and we tackle it. We may not always do it with a smile first thing in the morning after two hours of sleep, or do it with a lot of grace, but we do it. We may be impatient at times, we may feel like a failure at times and we may even feel like a supermom at others (those are the good times). 

That's the beauty of waking up as Mama. 

Because each day that we wake up to those smiling faces who depend on us SO much, we realize that our imperfections and our faults are not held against us. These little humans we are raising are happy each and every day to see us, to cuddle us and to play with us. They forgive us easily and they embrace us at our weakest. They save us day in and day out from thinking we are failing them. And with each new thing they learn or word they say, they remind us that time is fleeting and that one day, we WILL miss all of the craziness that these days bring. 

Each day that we wake up as Mama, is a blessing. It's a gift, it's a job and it's a challenge. But it is the best gift we've ever been given, the most important job we will ever have and it's the challenges that will teach us about God's grace, his mercy and his forgiveness. 

Kids, I'm so happy to be your exhausted, abundtantly joyful, occasionally impatient and never perfect mother. My cup runneth over.