I saw this yesterday and I just had to share it. Because it is so, so true. We, as women, spend so much time comparing ourselves to others and putting ourselves down, when the reality is that we are more than enough and we are exactly who we should be. Enjoy!

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Your Children Want YOU!

by April Perry

There’s this crazy phenomenon going on right now. Good, devoted mothers get on Pinterest . . . and blogs . . . and Facebook . . . and Twitter . . . and then they flip through parenting magazines and TV channels (full of advertisements and media hype) . . . and they’re convinced they’re not enough.
They’re convinced that everyone else has magnetic, alphabetized spice containers,

Photo source: Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/pin/274086327292186801/)

and unless their garden parties are thematically accessorized with butterfly lanterns,

Photo source: Pinterest, http://tinyurl.com/6lsuurc

and they’re wearing the latest fashions (in a size two, of course), there’s no point in even showing up for the day.

Last Saturday, this happened to me.

I came home from a lovely day out with my extended family and had serious intentions to spend the evening dyeing Easter eggs and making bunny buns.

By the time I got everyone settled and fed, however, I was so tired that I just laid on the couch and dozed while my children played and got themselves to bed.

Around 8:30, when I finally had the energy to sit up, I decided to try out Pinterest for a few minutes until my husband got home. There it was–1,000 reasons why I’m failing at all things domestic.

I don’t make grilled cheese sandwiches look like ice cream.

: Photo source: Pinterest, http://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com

I don’t even have seasonal throw pillows on my couches or live plants anywhere in the house.

Is it really so hard? Can’t I pull myself together and wrap some candles in green foliage and bring happiness to our decor with bright fabrics and hand-crafted photo frames?

As I was trying to calm my frenzied state of mind, my husband came home and held me tight. We talked about our day, and he told me how much he loves me and that he wants our boys to marry someone like me. I fell asleep snuggled under his arm.

The following morning, our children enthusiastically bounded into our bedroom and tucked themselves into our covers. My four-year-old gave me an arm massage, and we all sat there together–joking, laughing, planning the day ahead, and enjoying that special feeling of family. Reflecting on the discouragement I’d felt the night before, I realized that my family doesn’t care about what I see on Pinterest. They care about me.

My daughter Grace loves me to sing “Baby Mine” to her each night before bed. When I go to our Power of Moms Retreats, she misses that special ritual. We have recordings of Michael Crawford and Allison Krauss singing their versions, but Grace doesn’t want those. She wants me. So I recorded myself singing “Baby Mine” and emailed the audio file to her and to my husband so Grace can hear “her song” before she sleeps. As far as she’s concerned, my untrained voice belongs at the top of the charts.

: My daughter Grace is my “snuggliest” child. Back tickles and “Baby Mine” each night are how I show that I love her.

A few months ago, I was practicing sideways dutch braids on my two daughters. They had found these great “how-to” videos online, and we set up our comb, brush, and hair bands in front of the computer so I could become an expert.

: Photo source: www.cutegirlshairstyles.com

Half-way through the braid, my fingers got all tangled up, the hair was too loose, and one of my daughters had been sitting with her head to the side for several minutes.

Feeling extremely frustrated, I said, “That little girl in the video is so lucky to have a mom who knows how to do hair.”

My daughter stopped me in my tracks when she responded, “But I have a mom who is trying.”

: These are my two girls with the braids that took me FOREVER to do. (But I’m getting faster now, and they appreciate the fact that I’m trying.)

My mom is in her 70s, and her memory is starting to go. Her sweetness and love are as strong as ever, but when we talk on the phone, she can’t remember the last time we spoke or the last time we saw each other.

At the end of one phone call a few weeks ago, I whispered, “I miss you, Mom.”

She said, “Oh, I miss you, too! But we’ll get together soon. You can come down to the park, and we’ll get an ice cream cone at McDonald’s.”

I replied, “Yes, that will be fun.” But then the tears started, and I had to use every ounce of control to keep my voice even so she wouldn’t know I was crying.

What I really meant was, “I miss being able to talk to you, Mom. I miss laying on the grass while my children make a hopscotch and savoring our long phone conversations. I miss you remembering all those secrets I used to tell you. I miss you asking me if I’m okay. I miss seeing you read books and hearing you sing while you do the dishes and having you drive out to my house without getting lost. I miss you remembering how much I need you.”

My mother didn’t specialize in home decor or gourmet cooking, and she didn’t lift weights or run marathons. But she makes me feel like I am the most important, wonderful person ever born. If I could pick any mother in the whole world, it would be my mom.

There’s something deeper going on in family life than can ever be expressed on a social network. Whatever it is we feel we are lacking, can we collectively decide–as deliberate mothers–that we are not going to sit around feeling discouraged about all the things we’re not?

Can we remind each other that it is our uniqueness and love that our children long for? It is our voices. Our smiles. Our jiggly tummies. Of course we want to learn, improve, exercise, cook better, make our homes lovelier, and provide beautiful experiences for our children, but at the end of the day, our children don’t want a discouraged, stressed-out mom who is wishing she were someone else.

If you ever find yourself looking in the mirror at a woman who feels badly that she hasn’t yet made flower-shaped soap,

: Photo source: Pinterest, http://tinyurl.com/82k5vow

please offer her this helpful reminder: “Your children want you!”

Weekly Update - 30 weeks!

Pregnancy 10:01 AM

Our Mini-Trip to Myrtle Beach

Animals 3:26 PM

Hello, Third Trimester! 28 weeks!

Pregnancy 1:34 PM

Pregnant and I Know It

3:18 PM

Weekend Round-Up

Cameryn 2:05 PM

I vowed not to do anything this weekend, other than the normal cleaning, since we have been so busy for the past several weeks and have a busy April ahead. I succeeded.

Saturday, I told Cameryn that it was a special day with Mommy (this may or may not have been a bribe to get her to run errands with me!) I purchased some shoes for her on Friday that were too small so we took those back to the store and then I let Cameryn choose where she wanted to go to lunch. She chose Olive Garden. She's never been there before and she didn't eat a thing, except for the chocolate at the end. She said that she wanted spaghetti but ended up ordering mac and cheese, which was really bland so I don't blame her for not eating it! She likes ordering two drinks when we go out to eat, {white} milk and apple juice, always. I blame it on my mom who always orders two drinks as well. We talked about everything and nothing. She liked talking to the waitress too. I enjoyed my lunch date with her. She then asked to go to Target. Is my three year old the only one who asks to go to Target? She says that it's her favorite store! We spent about an hour in the store. Cameryn saw a lady with a baby in a carseat and insisted that we go look at the baby. Luckily, the woman was really nice and let Cameryn talk to the baby for five minutes. Our Target trip didn't end well because someone was getting tired (Me? Cam?) Cameryn fell asleep on the way home and she didn't even budge when I carried her from the car to her bed and she slept for a much needed two hours. I did a little cleaning that afternoon since it was raining. I did most of the cleaning in Cameryn's room because she told me that she didn't want her Little People in her room anymore. Sounds crazy, but it made me sad to move them over to her sister's room. Cameryn loved her Little People and would play with them for hours on end. Saturday night the thunderstorms rolled through and we had a bad hail storm that lasted for about 25 minutes. There was no storm damage, but it was still loud and slightly scary!

Sunday the sky was blue but it was a little cooler (62 degrees?!) than we have been used to. Cameryn has been asking to plant flowers so we headed to Lowe's to purchase the pink, purple, yellow and orange (ew. I'm so not down with the orange.) flowers that Cameryn wanted. Thanks to more rain, we had to wait to plant them until later that afternoon. Cameryn grew tired of planting them about twenty minutes in because she said it was hard work and decided to play in the hose and jump in puddles instead. She was freezing after puddle jumping so she played in the bathtub for about an hour. She had a late lunch/early dinner and then fell asleep on the couch at 4pm. I let her sleep for about an hour and then attempted to keep her awake until Chris came home about 7. They spent the next hour on Skype with his family. We decided that Skype is like a virtual babysitter. Seriously. Cameryn could have sat there for hours talking to her cousins and grandparents!

And that was our weekend. Nothing exciting for sure, but it was nice to have a weekend at home and be able to get a few things done around the house (laundry! cleaning!) before all of the madness begins, again....

Searching for Sanity

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