What Being A Mom Looks Like

A Mother looks different depending on who's lens you are looking through...

{through the lens of your child}

Your child is going to view you as superwoman. You are the first person they see when they wake up, the one who celebrate their milestones and snaps gazillions of pictures to share with everyone else, the one who stays up with them when they are sick, the one who's arms they run to when they are sad, the one who makes art projects with them. You are your child's whole world. They don't see the behind the scenes effort and sacrifices the we as mothers, the special planning and how we make things happen, and in my opinion, they never should. It's kinda the Bruce Wayne aspect of being Batman, the mystery makes him being a superhero that much more awesome.

{through the lens of your husband}

My husband and I just celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. This years card made me cry [who am I kidding every card he writes me makes me cry] tears of joy. These were not the same tears of joy I got last year when he wrote about how happy he was that we were pregnant, or the the ones I get when   he writes how much he loves me and why. Nope these were special. I never sought his opinion on how I was doing as a mother. He has seen the ups and downs in this short time, the midnight feedings, my frustrations and breakdowns. It was amazing reading his gratitude for what I do as a mother and how he didn't know it was possible to love me more now that I had our child. I will cherish these words forever and on a down day I can read these and know that in his eyes I'm going great. 

{through the lens of your family & friends}

While some may see your daily routine, most just get a snapshot of your day. They see you juggling three different tasks and offer to help but often times you reject their help because you have a system. [I am a one trip kind of a girl, I hate going back to the car several times to get things. Therefore I carry the diaper bag, infant carseat, and a grocery bag or two on one single trip.] They may not see the behind the scenes either, just what you tell them or what they see when they are with you.

{your own eyes}

Perhaps the most critical set of eyes. There is no manual how to be a Mom. You learn from your own experience and through trial and error. Being a Mother is like a huge experiment. You keep trying something until you find what works. You run on sleep fumes some days and on the days you are well rested you feel sleepy from getting to much sleep, go figure! You walk around with spit up on your shirt that you may or may not know about and if you do know about it, it most likely just happened and there is not much you can do about it if your out. You spend hours on end researching the best way to do something, or the "best" product that your child needs. You sweat the small stuff in the beginning because everything is new. That person you were before having a child is gone, and you are ok with that. Why? Caring for that tiny person is more important. I make time for doing things that I love and that means that those things happen later. I never want my son to feel like his mommy needs to make time for him. 

That person that I see staring back at me in the mirror is now a Mom. That new joy I see, that deep love that I feel for my son that would make me do anything in my power for him, that new protective feeling that I carry and this overwhelming mothering instinct is now in that reflection. Even if I don't look like a million bucks all the time, I feel like I just won a million bucks because I am my little mans mom! 

What does being a Mom look like to you?