Mom Confessions

(Edited to add: So my Mom read this and called me out, saying I had a chip on my shoulder. Let me clarify....I do not have a chip on my shoulder :) I just felt like confessing some things that I do that are either weird, probably not the best idea in the world, or just pure laziness. I am in no way "calling anybody out" specifically. If you do some of the things I don't, great! Good work taking the time to do it! I just don't....nothing wrong with either one of us :) Love you all!)

Last night was a rough one. While I was cursing the fact that Matthew had finally fallen asleep (after an hour of him staring at me around 3:00 am) and then promptly got the hiccups and woke up for another 30 minutes, I was thinking through this post. After reading blog after blog of what appear to be "perfect Moms" I decided to write a post dedicated to the rest of us, the non-perfect moms. At the end of the day, none of us are perfect. No mom has it all together (even though her blogs, Facebook posts and emails make it seem otherwise...) and the bottom line is that we love our babies and desire nothing more than their safety and happiness. How we achieve that....well that is where we are different. So here are my mom confessions for today.

1. I don't cloth diaper. There was a time when I thought I might, I even did a bunch of research on it. But at the end of the day, my little boys are just as happy in their Pampers and I am happy to not have to wash anything extra. I already do enough laundry.

2. Now that Jonathan is older, he doesn't eat all organic food. In fact, one of his favorites is chicken nuggets. Like, the frozen kind. And he dips them in ketchup (GASP!)

3. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, Matthew will spit up on his swaddle blanket and if it doesn't seem to bother him, I leave him be. If the kid is sleepy and willing to go to sleep, I refuse to do anything to mess that up....and taking a baby out of a warm, cozy swaddle and changing his clothes/blanket would definietly mess that up.

4. With a newborn, there is a big difference between gas toots and blow out your diaper toots. If it sounds like gas, I leave it alone. Especially in the middle of the night. See #3 for the reason why. This would be something I recommend all new Mom's figure out pretty early.

5. Sometimes, I cringe a little when I hear one of the boys wake up. I love them dearly, but at 3:00 am, I don't really want to hang out. This probably makes me sound like a terrible person....just keeping it real.

6. I am one of the rare people in life who loves the hospital. I honestly love having babies because it means 4 days in the hospital (well that is just one of the reasons...) I mean, think about it. You have tons of people waiting on you hand and foot, all your meals delivered to your bed while you watch TV, your newborn can stay long enough to cuddle and bond but then you can let them go back to the nursery and everybody can sleep...who in their right mind wouldn't love it?? And yes, I know some people hate the hospital because they are bothered by the nurses. I can see this. But in my opinion, that is just a small price to pay.

7. Everybody knows I love my doctor, Dr. Storey. But I also really love our pediatrician, Dr. Torn. My friend and I like to joke that we should ask Dr. Torn to be our best friend and we could all hang out. I am pretty sure she would agree if we actually asked. She is seriously awesome and I look forward to my appointments with her. Gosh, that sounds so lame.

8. Jonathan has been watching a lot more TV lately. Sorry. I only have 2 hands and so much energy and to be honest, I feel like those are better served keeping babies fed, safe and entertained. Maybe I will do more art projects and craft activities later on, but for now, Chuggington and Barney (blah!) will have to suffice.

9. This is a big one and will probably garner the same response as my lack of cloth diapers....I don't like breastfeeding. I do it because it is good for my babies and WAY cheaper than formula, but I don't really like it. Sure I enjoy the quiet time with them and the idea that I am single handedly meeting their most basic need, but I don't like the fact that I am stuck in an awkward position (the doorbell always seems to ring when I start nursing) or that I have to cover up or go in the other room when visitors come by. There are a few other reasons, but I will spare you the details.

10. Finally, just because I don't write status updates or blog posts everyday about how much I love my children and my husband, doesn't mean I don't love them. Of course I know I am blessed, of course I love them with all of my heart, of course I would walk through fire for them. But sometimes, you just need to vent and complain and be honest. Being a parent is hard. Being a wife is hard. Being both with little to no sleep....that's really hard.