I had to take this picture when I saw how Wonder Woman had been haphazardly discarded on our kitchen table near a tree craft project Jordan brought home from day care. Mother's Day is tomorrow and sometimes I feel like moms feel like they have to be super heroes like Wonder Woman but it's just not gonna happen...we may have moments of greatness, but mom's are people, too. I know that I will always do my best and do anything for Jordan and our baby on the way but I also have to accept that I'm not perfect and I'll make mistakes.
"There is no way to be a perfect mother,
and a million ways to be a good one."
-Jill Churchill
Just last night, Jordan woke up not able to breathe. I heard him struggling on the monitor, jumped up, grabbed the glass of water I keep by my bed and ran into his room.
"God can't be everywhere, so he created mothers."
-Jewish proverb
I don't think I did much for keeping calm at first but was able to calm him down after he was screaming and crying and coughing. The water didn't really help. I, of course, had no idea what was wrong...I sprinted back into our room to hysterically scream at Chad to get up and help me figure out what was going on. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what was wrong, if I needed to call an ambulance, if I needed to call the doctor, if I needed to call my mom...he was calmed down enough and I knew he was actually getting air so I opted for my mom first. She said to take him into the bathroom to breathe the steam from the hot water running and to call the doctor. I held my sweet boy who was clinging to me with his little arms in the muggy bathroom.
"A mother is she who can take the place of all others
but whose place no one else can take."
-Cardinal Mermillod
Chad ran to the computer to figure out what to do about croup. He came upstairs telling me he was gonna take Jordan out in the cool air because that's what it said would be good for a croupy spell. All I was thinking was, oh yeah, croup...it does seem like it could be croup...why didn't I think of that?
He finally did seem to be breathing better and we snuggled him up in bed next to me with the humidifier and he was able to sleep the rest of the night okay. I woke up this morning feeling like I wasn't cool, collected, or clue-ful as far as last night went, and right before Mother's Day, but I did my best and that's all I can expect from myself.
I strongly believe that mom's aren't perfect and we shouldn't expect ourselves to be perfect 24/7. I also believe mother's need to take care of themselves and treat themselves to massages or Starbucks or online shopping once in a while in order to stay sane enough to take care of their kids.
So to all the moms out there and moms-to-be: you have the most wonderful job in the world but it's not always easy and it's not always fun and you're not always going to know exactly what to do, but that's okay. Keep it up, do your best, be true to yourself and know that you mean so much to your little (or big) munchkins! I wish everyone a great Mother's Day!