Thoughts on Motherhood

This motherhood gig is tricky business, I tell you what. After almost seven months, I feel like I mostly have the hang of it...and then something happens to completely shake my confidence. Like this week, when Mr. Max has apparently started teething hardcore (well, we are assuming, anyway) and the routine we had finally, sort of settled into has quite effectively gone out the window. No more 9:00 bedtimes where we lay him in his crib, turn on some lullabies and call it good...lately we are lucky if he falls asleep by 10:30, and only if he is laying next to one or both of us after carrying on for a good hour and having a nice dose of Tylenol to make his little gums feel better. He also has a bit of a cold that has been hanging around for a few weeks, making eating slightly more difficult because he can't always breathe too well...and the only thing that helps him to breathe better (the glorious bulb syringe we got at the hospital) is perhaps his least favorite thing ever in the history of his short little life ever and I feel like I am basically torturing him every time I use it. Sigh.

I've discovered that it's hard not to compare myself to other mothers. There are a few blogs I read every now and then, both written by first-time moms (one stay-at-home, one work-from-home) who have babies that are not much older than mine. These women are always impeccably dressed in expensive clothes (and six-inch heels! On weekdays!) complete with stacks of bracelets, long necklaces and humongous earrings, hair looking like they've just come from the salon, faces full of makeup, always going on and on about their healthy eating habits and religious workout routines. Their babies are apparently wonder-children, on set routines and seemingly never fussy or hard to handle.

Truth be told, most days I am not dressed before noon or later unless I have somewhere to go...and pretty much at least once a week I stay in my pajamas or robe all day. I have decided that I may have to start foregoing jewelry completely, as my little man has ruined more than one of my necklaces because he finds them so fascinating and such fun things to chew on (earrings, too...I haven't even dared tempting him with bracelets so I just stay away from them altogether). Any shirt I have on is certain to be sopping wet with either my baby's drool or spit-up by the end of the day, so T-shirts seem to be the most practical option for me at the moment. Putting my hair in a ponytail is usually a good idea, since Max likes to yank and suck on my hair, too, which is always fun. I started working part-time from home about a month and a half ago, so in between trying to get four hours of work in every day and taking care of my baby, I barely have time to eat, take five minutes for myself and just breathe, let alone work out on a regular basis or most days even leave the house. 

I don't want to complain, because I am beyond grateful that I was able to find a job that is flexible enough to allow me to stay home with my baby while bringing in a little extra money for our family and helping me keep up with my skills...but honestly, it can all become pretty overwhelming. At the end of the day, the things that keep me going and restore my sanity are these simple facts:

My baby never goes hungry,
My baby gets the attention he needs,
My baby is clean,
My baby is well-dressed,
My baby is read to often,
My baby is snuggled,
My baby is developing just as he should,
My baby is happy and healthy,
My baby knows that his mama loves him,
And my baby loves his mama.

And that's really all that matters, right?