Mother's Day was a wonderful day for me. I slept in until 8:30 and I'm pretty sure the last time I did that was before children. I came down the stairs to breakfast, flowers and 3 smiling faces greeting me. We had a picnic, drank wine and then the hubs made me beef wellington for dinner. I didn't change a single diaper or put anyone to bed. I did all the playing and snuggling and none of the real work. It was a lovely break.
{Boy Mom alert: bat sticking out from behind your head for a nice Mother's Day picture}
The next day, I woke up at 5:30 to a baby who had thrown up in his crib enough to make this nurse gag. I continued cleaning vomit all day and even scrubbed blue gatorade puke off the couch...twice. It was definitely back to reality.
Around the whole Mother's Day weekend, I saw so many things about Moms. Working Moms vs Stay at home Moms. Who does it better? Who has it harder? Who is more privileged? I've seen the stuff before, but I feel like it came out in force over the past few days.
I just want to call bull on all of it. I want to know, what difference does it make? (Said in my best Hillary Clinton voice)
We're all Moms. We're all on call 24 hours a day. We would all drop anything and everything if our kids really needed us. We all love our children deeply and would go to the ends of the earth for them.
This weekend, my neighbor was telling me how much she hates dropping her baby off at daycare. I can't imagine, really, how hard that must be. I also can't imagine how magnificent it must be to dress up for a purpose and eat my lunch without wiping a butt in the middle of it.
She can't imagine the glory of staying in your pajamas all day long, if you want, or being able to workout during nap time. She also can't imagine curling into the fetal position in the corner because you've literally turned into a child due to gross lack of adult interaction.
She peels into the driveway because she hasn't seen her baby all day. I peel out of mine the second the hubs comes home, so I can take a few minutes without hearing someone say Mommy. Her baby stays up late just so she can spend time with her, mine go to bed early because I can literally see my hair turning turning more gray as bedtime approaches.
Motherhood is hard. Period. No matter what your motherhood looks like.
We all work our butts off. On top of taking care of our kids, we all clean, cook and grocery shop. While I'd like to think I can get that stuff done during the day, I don't. I rarely can. The majority of my cleaning is nights and weekends, just like a working Mom. I don't have a perfectly clean house when the hubs comes home. We all change diapers. And you know what? I don't think working Moms get out of that. I bet the babies in daycare wait patiently till they're picked up to deliver that gift, much like a cat proudly delivers a mouse to the doorstep. (Which is totally gross, by the way)
All of us are worried Mothers. We never stop worrying about safety, what they ate, what they didn't eat, how many times they pooped, who their friends are, how much they know and how much needs to be in their college fund. Whether we're with our kids all day or away from them, we're thinking of them. Our hearts either sink when we see them go diving off the couch, or when the daycare calls to say someones sick, or hurt.
Some Moms have a choice. Some don't. Some work because they have to and some have to stay home because of the high price of childcare. Regardless, we all make sacrifices, just maybe in different ways.
We've all given up parts of ourselves to become Mothers. To fulfill a desire that has been in many of us since we were young. We all deserve a pat on the back. We need to celebrate ourselves, and each other. Regardless of what we do from 9-5, we are the same. Not one better than the other, not one working harder.
We're Moms and that makes us all amazing.
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