What it means to be a mom | Life with James and Jaxson

Being a mom

The hugs, the giggles and the endless kisses.

The love, the tackles and the glorious tantrums

Their little toes, their little hands and their cute button noses.

Being a mom is a gift so many of us have and so many of us yearn to have. It’s a love that grows, an unconditional love, a great love. You listen to stories from your toddlers that have no point, you clean up the same mess a million times a day and you laugh at jokes that aren’t funny at all.

Being a mom is listening to the same cartoons over and over and singing along to them louder than your kids. It’s buying the bulk pack of yogurt so that you don’t have to go the store again tomorrow. It’s making the same dinner three different ways because each kid eats it differently. (Obviously, the husband counts as one of the kids)

Being a mom is: being mean when you don’t want to and having to hear “I don’t love you” without taking it personally. It’s cleaning vomit 1am in the morning because nothing works for your reflux baby or your toddler has that horrible stomach bug. Being a mom means never sleeping and never sitting down because we all know that if a mom looks comfortable, life is all upside down.

Being a mom means having your heart walk on two little feet outside your body. It’s realizing that YOU are enough for them and YOU are all they need. Being a mom is being strong for everyone when they are weak, it’s showing a brave face when actually, you freaking the hell out inside.

Being a mom means that you have to teach hard lessons and guide (not control) them along the way. It’s teaching them to be the best versions of themselves and loving them no matter who they turn out to be. Being a mom means being responsible for another human being, but knowing that you cannot protect them from everything in life. Guide them, love them and be proud of them. Tell them every day that they make you proud. Make sure that they never have to feel awkward to hug and kiss you. That they know they can lean on you when they need to. Make sure that they know you will always be there for them, no matter what.

Kids can drive us absolutely insane most days but just one hug, one smile from them or one little laugh makes us forget all the “bad” that they do. Being a mom is a sacrifice every moment of every day to raise these beautiful souls because now that we are moms, life isn’t about us anymore. It’s about raising them and making sure they will survive in this beautiful, yet harsh, world.