You Don’t Always Have to Like Being a Mother

I love being a mother.  It is easily the greatest job I’ve ever had, or ever will have, and I love my daughter more than I ever thought it possible to love another human.  I count my blessing every single day that I have a beautiful, healthy family, and that I get to be a mama to an amazing little girl.

That being said, just because I love being a mother and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, it doesn’t necessarily mean I always like it.  Hopefully I’m not alone on this one.  Hopefully I don’t sound like a mean wretch of  woman when I say the following things.

I don’t always like being a mother when my daughter wakes up for the fourth time in the middle of the night for no other reason other than the fact that she no longer wants to be on her stomach and can’t figure out how to get onto her back.

I don’t always like being a mother when the diaper explosion happens in the Gap for the second time and you have to change the baby in a public restroom and she gets shit on her leg.

I don’t always like being a mother when the baby is screaming in the backseat of the car because she WANTS TO EAT RIGHT NOW and you have to maneuver your body so that you are now half topless and nursing your child in a moving vehicle on the highway hoping that nobody sees you.  And then you hit about 15 bumps and you break your back and your child laughs.

I don’t always like being a mother when the baby is crying for absolutely no reason.  And you have tried everything there is to try and she just screams and your heart breaks but you also would like to just shut the door and have a cocktail and sleep for 12 years.

To all the women out there who have ever felt this way, and I hope there are some of you and it isn’t just me, it’s absolutely okay and normal to love being a mother, but to not always like it.  It has to be this way, because humans aren’t built to love something all of the time and not get annoyed at it every once in a while.  You can love the shit out of your baby but still want to take a break to watch Bravo TV in bed with a bowl of nachos and not get up for an entire day.  This doesn’t mean you’re a bad mom, it just means that you’re someone I would like to be friends with because you’re a normal human being and not a mombot.  Sometimes it’s hard for us moms to say we need a break or we just want to take a step back and NOT be a mother for a minute.  Remember, we were still people before we had kids.  We were people who had lives and dreams and interests that didn’t include Little Einsteins or Mickey Mouse clubhouse, and it’s okay to remember that and embrace it!  We love our kids with every fiber of our being, but we don’t always have to like every single aspect of motherhood.  I really don’t know anyone who actually enjoys cleaning shit off a baby’s leg in the middle of Jersey Gardens mall.