Praise for Moms

Last night, a friend of mine randomly posted on my Facebook wall, simply saying, "You're an awesome Mommy!" After a day where Scott worked until almost 3 a.m., and in my day, I did the following:

• Functioned on very little sleep the night before (the kids trashed the house on Sunday...but we had such a good time that I didn't really mind the cleaning, even though it took forever!)
• Got Angelica dressed
• Fed her breakfast
• Worked 
• Grocery shopped
• Picked up Angelica at daycare 
• Unloaded the groceries
• Unloaded Angelica 
• Put the groceries away
• Dealt with temper tantrums (including one that followed my saying no to having a third package of gummy snacks after dinner, which resulted in big huge tears and screaming "I WANT DADDY!" Way to blow my ego, kid!), 
• Cooked dinner
• Bathed Angelica
• Got her into her PJs 
• Read stories
• Got her her cup of water in a DORA cup (which she insisted on)
• Cleaned the kitchen
• Wiped the sticky toddler substance off of the furniture (seriously, what the hell is that stuff? I swear they must ooze liquid sugar and smear it on everything!) 
• Finally got some "me time" to unload the camera, blog, shower, and watch a little TV.

I was exhausted and felt overwhelmed, and definitely needed to hear that. (BTW, thank you, May, you made my night!)

I'm very, very lucky that when my husband is not at work, he is definitely the stellar, 50/50 parent in the household. I couldn't ask for more. But I also can't blame him for being out of the house and at work late when his job requires him to be there. That's just life, and we have to roll with the punches it deals us. (And these are "punches" we've been dealing with for the better part of a decade!)

I am also very aware that my struggles with parenthood are not really unique. In fact, I can imagine situations much more challenging than mine. Which is why I want to say...

Moms, you are all doing a great job! Working moms? Be proud! Stay at home moms? Be proud! Handle it all by yourself, or with the help of your significant other? Be proud! If your kids go to bed every night feeling safe, secure and loved, be proud. You are doing the best that you can, and you, too, are awesome.