What Motherhood is REALLY Like

I've seen so many blogs about how hard motherhood is and how difficult and crazy kids can be - babies waking up 3 times a night or refusing to go to bed, or toddlers breaking into the pantry and throwing food everywhere, or poopy diapers that end up everywhere. All of these blogs are really just finding a way to laugh at the hard times, and that's great, but I don't think that's what motherhood is really like. I feel like those blogs just make it seem like kids are so difficult and always getting into trouble and constantly destroying things. It's not about the messes and tantrums and fights.

Motherhood is...

...tripping over E's toy cars and not getting mad, but thinking, "Oh, how cute that he's starting to play with his toy cars!"

...watching the little birds hop through the grass, looking for worms after a rainstorm, and wishing E was awake so we can watch together.

...taking the time to stop and look at a snail when we're in a hurry.

...laughing when I get out of the shower and see that he's poured a whole bag of cereal on the living room floor and is sitting in the middle eating it and loving life.

...impromptu dance parties to Mickey Mouse songs.

...seeing E's excitement when I say, "We're having pasta for lunch!" (Macaroni and cheese) He runs and dances and yells, "Sta! Sta! Woohoo!" over and over again.

...going to the library first thing in the morning to get a bunch of books about dinosaurs, and then going to the park and rolling down hills, not caring if our clothes get dirty.

...staying up an extra half hour so we can keep reading books together.

Motherhood is the most wonderful thing in the world. It's taking the time to laugh and smile and live.