Before I had kids, I thought that parenthood would be more or less a series of kodak moments. You know the ones: cute curly-haired little girls in fluffy dress running through fields, little boys in stripes kicking soccer balls.
I was going to be the parent who was always even tempered, packed my kids healthy delicious snacks, religiously used cloth diapers and had mild-mannered, well behaved children (obviously because of my awesome parenting and general serene nature) who played together nicely on a red & white plaid blanket on the lawn.
That was 8 years ago.
In the last 8 years, I have shown up at work (exactly) twice in dresses that weren't wrinkled. I have dabbed at spit up and jam handprints in the bathroom before meetings. I have brought my kids to the doctor for countless skating and scooter accidents. Once I even made my daughter a peanut butter sandwich and sent it to school for her lunch (what was I thinking?).
Every morning I stuff them unceremoniously in my bicycle trailer, half-eaten breakfasts still in their hands. I have alternated between feeding them chia seed muffins and take out pizza. There are (always) little piles of clothes and toys in the middle of our living room floor.
Yesterday my daughter told me that she had a hole in her last clean pair of leggings and my response was something like "Well, if you wear them with a dress instead of a tunic and remember not to bend down too much, no one will notice. Your momma knows about fashion, sweetie". (Full disclosure: that was not my proudest moment).
I live in a constant state of chaos, with a just a little bit of crazy thrown in for good measure.
Parenthood sure isn't what I thought it would be all of those years ago.
But, you know what? In spite of all of the aforementioned things (and many more not mentioned), it's pretty great.
Those kids of mine - dirt behind the ears and all - give me more joy than I could have ever imagined. And I'm a darn good parent too. They eat 3 meals a day, play outside, do endless amounts of artwork and help out with the household chores. They operate lemonade stands, go to the library and even get to bed a pretty reasonable hour most nights. Plus, they get lots of hugs and kisses (even when they don't want them) and that's what kids needs to grow, right? (-:
So, here's to all of the Mommas out there - Parenting is HARD and we still embrace it with energy and enthusiasm. We are strong women: we support our families and our communities. We volunteer in our children's schools. We work. We organize. We lead. We love.
Mother's Day is for you and all that you do.
xoxo
The Ladies of Workshop & Flock