Surviving Motherhood - Meredith Rines

Let’s get real here. Motherhood is hard. No matter how many kids you have, or if you work full time, part-time, work from home or stay at home. It’s hard. Being a Mom kicks you in the butt every single day. I mean it. Surviving motherhood may be a misleading title, because I’m pretty no matter my son’s age I’m still going to be a crazed-filled Mom ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

When my little guy was sick I was fortunate to stay home with him for 3 days straight. There I was 24 hours a day on call. No one to hand me anything, no one to help me when I went pee. It was just me and a sick little 9 month old… and three dogs that followed me wherever I went. Well…. Until my husband came home from work.

You never know how loved you are until you hear a baby start to cry because you set him down to run to the bathroom. Friday night rolled around and J asked me how my day went. I looked at him and with all seriousness said I’m in the same clothes since yesterday at 5. I don’t even know if I’ve brushed my teeth today. I can’t get a comb through my hair because it hasn’t been combed since Sunday night and because every time I get the comb out our little guy thinks it’s his to play with. Today has been great.

I meant that though… it really was a great day. Our kid was finally feeling better. It was worth it!

That’s motherhood. All is fine if the kids are doing good. You can get through anything.

There are so many sleepless nights and days where all you want is your kid to take an amazing 2 hour nap just so you can start a load of laundry and change the channel to something that isn’t animated. At least that’s how felt last week and that was only 3 days!

Most days I struggle with Mom Guilt because I have to drop him off a sitter while I go to work. I think about him and miss him the entire day. But I get a break. I get to have grown-up conversations and sit at a desk by myself. But as soon as evening comes I rush to pick him up just to hold him again. In the evenings I’m juggling dinner while getting ran over by a walker. If you’ve never carried a plate of food, a glass of liquids while having your bare toes ran over by mini plastic wheels then you haven’t lived!

You know what we need in this motherhood thing? Moms being nice and telling you that you’re doing a great job. Momhood is messy, it’s filled with too much caffeine, sleepless nights and too much judgement. We’re too busy judging ourselves and wondering what other people are thinking of us. Well let me tell you… I don’t even notice the other Moms because I’m the mom scrambling around.

I showed up for an after-work event for me and J, but since he had to work late I took my 9 month old son as my plus one. But don’t worry, it wasn’t cute. He spilled his bottle all over him in the car so it looked like he wet himself. I had to dig for my fleece jacket off the floorboard because I forgot his jacket. And I also couldn’t stay long because I didn’t have one single diaper with me… nope not even an old one that was too small. I was afraid I would have ended up wrapping him in swaddle blanket if he peed through his diaper just to get him home. And I wasn’t about to have to clean his car seat cover that night.

Mom. Of. The. Year. Right here, people. That’s me! To have another Mom say “I’ve been there.” or “Hey! He’s alive and doesn’t have poop all over his body. You’re doing great!” would be amazing. That’s what we should be doing. Encouraging each other because we are in this together.

If you see a Mom who looks frazzled and like she hasn’t slept in days, then let her know how great she’s doing.