"Is It Just Me?!"

I'm so excited to introduce a new friend of mine! This is Nicole from Mom's Wicked Cool Adventshas! She's a spunky chica with a "real-world" view on motherhood! I asked her to open her heart and share something with my brood today, while I'm piling things into boxes and lost in a sea of unending moving supplies. So happy she obliged!  I think she touches perfectly on a topic a lot of us struggle with as new(er) moms. It's hard to be an "island", stuck raising tiny humans with little contact with the outside world. We can lose ourselves. There are some who come alongside us and help us make it through. Check out her guest post, I like to call "Is It Just Me?!" and know that it's not. We are all in this messy life together. :) 

There are some moms I see and I wonder, do they ever yell at their kids behind closed doors? Are they ever without their hair done or their makeup on? Are there are moms out there who feel like that stressed out cartoon momma just begging for a break and a glass of wine? Does anyone else lock their kids outside just so they can simply go to the bathroom without being interrupted?  Is anyone else tempted to give their child 2 tablespoons of Benadryl for a bedtime that doesn’t make you long for the funny farm or end up in tears (both you and your child)? Does anyone else want to ask those Johnson & Johnson commercials for a refund? Or is it just me? 

Don’t get me wrong, I love my children. I have two of the cutest kids in the universe (yes, I’m biased!) and they are my pride and joy, generally good kids, and also provide me with endless hours of entertainment. But there are those days- you know those days, right?- when I wonder what level of hell they spawned out of. It’s amazing to me that kids can just sense when you’re a little out of it and they’re all over it.

I am a very social person and going from being in the “outside world” to a stay at mom of a newborn was extremely hard for me. I had no new mom friends. Relatively new to the area too, so there was no history here for me. No family, none of my old friends locally. So lonely. I spent much of the first two years crying.  As Miss Banana Pants says, “Those of us that press on with a smile on our faces deserve capes… and a massage.”  How does anyone else press on through this crazy, but amazingly rewarding period of time known as “being the mother of young children?” I know for me I would never have made it this far without the help of my amazingly wonderful friends. A woman’s friends are an integral part to her life and I surely wouldn’t have made it this far without mine.  As the saying goes, some are here for a reason, some for a season, and some for life.  

Step by step, I have made some great friends who have been with me through some tough and mostly fun times. I’m now able to enjoy life like I used to-and WITH my children. I have had my friends on the sidelines and even in the game with me at times, cheering me on and fighting the good fight with me. One of my very best friends in the world knows exactly what I have been through. Even though she is busy with her older girls too, she still manages to make time for me in her busy schedule. I hope she knows just how much she means to me. She is a woman of strength and character that I long to be even a fraction of. If I make it to even half of anything she is, I will consider myself a success. She’s got it all together even though I know she doesn’t feel like it.

If any of my friends are reading this, and I know some others are, I hope they know just how special they all are to me. I’m sorry if I am just babbling or blubbering and not making any sense, but its really important that we tell those people that mean this much to us… before its too late. Sorry its so sappy, but Girl you know its true.  OOH! OOH! OOH, I love you. ;)

So, Tra, I think we should go to a spa… and get that much deserved massage. And maybe for your birthday this year, we should make sure you get a cape. I love you!