I prayed for many a year for the honor of becoming a mom. Now that I am, I look around at other mothers and wonder why they complain so much. Sometimes I get down right mad. I try not to, I try to be patient and understanding. I try to realize that every woman faces motherhood from their own unique perspective and that my perspective isn’t the only one. I try, I really do!
The reality is motherhood is HARD work. It is long hours of never ending work. From long nights that never seem to end when a little one is screaming from an ear infection, to early morning wake ups where you just want to sleep i for 1 more hour. Then there’s breakfast, well let’s face it, 3 meals as well as snacks EVERY day! Laundry! OH the laundry that just keeps piling up, never getting done. Just when you think you get the laundry caught up, in comes the husband with another load, or a little one spills chocolate milk down his brand new white shirt. It really never ends. The dishes, I sometimes think, jump out of the cabinetry all on their own and somehow find bits of food to lick up. Yes, I know it’s the way it is when there are – 3 meals and several snacks a day.
Then comes the discipline part of motherhood, the training up part. Repetition and consistency are hard, and WE are the adults so it falls to us to be consistent and repetitive, which gets really boring and sometimes you just want to yell, ‘I’ve said the same thing 50 times! Can’t you just listen!’ Well, in fact, we sometimes do yell, then feel guilty about it! But it’s hard!
Then there’s all the things we want and need to teach them. Especially, if we home school. I often think, I’ll never have enough time to ensure he learns everything he needs to know before he gets married and moves away.
It is so overwhelming. Motherhood..
But, I love it! I love when little man climbs in bed with me in the morning for snuggle time. I try desperately to hold on to each moment like that because I realize that the moments will pass. He will move on in life and he won’t want morning snuggle time anymore. I love the business of motherhood, although I don’t like each and every task that comes with the busy-ness. I love making him 3 meals and several snacks, don’t like the clean up. I love the chauffeuring him to and from various activities and appointments, I just love it! I love this phase of my life, because I remember with sorrow all the years that I cried in prayer, waiting for this day to arrive.
It isn’t easy, motherhood. Every stage and every age comes with it’s own challenges and rewards. But I know those ages and stages will soon end. Before I can blink, my Little Man will be grown into a Big Man with a family of his own and this phase of my life will be over. So, for now, I choose to find the enjoyment in motherhood. I choose to work at not getting annoyed when I hear him whining. I choose to try and fight my selfish desire to do things my way and realize that his way with his little hands might just work better for him. I choose to LOVE being a mom!
