I feel it’s time to give another shout out to all you mom’s out there, and specifically to the one that keeps this house operating.
From dawn ’til dusk you are washing clothes and dishes and faces. You make food, and by the time you have it cleaned up it’s time to make more. You deal with a lot of crap.
A LOT of crap. Literally. By the handfuls.
You have to be able to soothe and discipline, sometimes in the same sentence.
Perhaps worst of all, for those of you who decided to breastfeed, you have to deal with babies that eventually get teeth. I cringe and have to stop typing so that I can put my hands over my nipples, just thinking about this.
You probably have a lot of other things you wouldn’t mind doing now and again. My wife is a wonderful writer and just can’t find the time. My sister is an awesome photographer but with four kids and a husband running his own business, how do you follow your passions that don’t crawl or toddle or walk?
Well, from a guy who just a few nights ago struggled to get all four kids to bed without mom at home to help, I say “thank you!” In under two hours I – changed Sam‘s diaper, gave him a bottle and put him to bed -gave Abra her medicine, brushed her teeth, put on her pjs (actually her older brothers pjs, rolled up, because her pjs were in the room where Sam was sleeping) and rocked her to sleep -read Indian in the Cupboard to the older two -gave Lucy her medicine and covered her in Vicks and set her bed up in the living room so she wouldn’t wake up the baby with her cough -put Cade to bed then fed him an hour later when he wandered out of his room, hungry, after everyone else was asleep
All of this in a few hours. And you do this almost non-stop every day.
Thank you for washing our dirty underwear!
Thank you for cleaning out the crud behind the plastic lining of the high chair (okay, I usually do that but you sometimes do that)!
Thank you for smelling the butts of your diapered children nearly every day just to see if they pooped themselves!
And thank you for almost never saving a diaper for more than an hour, where poop has blown out the back, for us to change when we get home from work!
I know there are rewards. I know these little children are pretty much the best thing we have going in our lives. I’ve heard all the true sayings about how being a mom is the most important job in the world. I agree with that. But I also know that, from time to time, you can have a rough day, or wonder if you’re doing a good job, or wonder if it wouldn’t be best just to duck tape them to a chair.
But you are doing a great job, and you are appreciated. (And I’d lay off the duck tape, at least for now).
Happy Pre-Mother’s Day Mother’s Day!
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Anyone who shares any of this week’s posts on Facebook, or Twitter, or starts following me on Twitter (@shawnsmucker) this week, or shares a link to this post pretty much anywhere except in the men’s bathroom stall at the Lancaster Border’s, will gain entrance to win a free copy of Matt Mikalatos’s book Imaginary Jesus (no, not the copy he gave me; I’m keeping that one thank you very much). Each time you share a post you get an additional entry to win the book, so go wild (and comment somewhere on what you’ve done so that I can keep track).