“You’ll blink and they’ll be walking. You’ll turn around and they’ll start running away from you. And you’ll wish you would’ve held them more when they let you. You’ll wish you could rock them to sleep again and watch those little eyes flutter as they’re dreaming.”
‘Do you ever put that baby down?’ The question was unwarranted and filled with judgement.’: Mom urges ‘just hold the baby, you won’t regret it’
‘Right—THERE! MOMMY! NO! A CAR JUST SQUASHED IT!’ I pumped the brakes, started directing traffic. I was hyperventilating.’: Hero mom saves lizard
“‘Sir, can you take it to a hospital?’ He pulled his truck past me and tipped his hat. ‘Hail nawl, little lady. That thang is all on you.’ Pretty soon I was standing alone, next to my car, with a half-dead thing in a shoe box that was IN MY HANDS. I was hyperventilating. This was not okay.”
‘I was told recently that I had ‘let myself go.’ I gave birth 18 months ago. My body is not an apology.’: Mom responds to body shamers, ‘Wear the sweatpants and the yoga pants and let yourself go!’
“I’ve gained some weight, my eyebrows are shaggy, and I’ve got a couple of chin hairs. And I won’t apologize for it.”
‘She decided at 5 a.m. that she wanted eggs. I was ready to snap. ‘Well if you can’t hack it then you shouldn’t have had kids.’: Mom suffering from sleep deprivation says ‘it’s okay for a mom to say she’s struggling’
“Mothers all over the world are literally being tortured. And I guess when you ask or complain about it, you’re met with, ‘Well if you can’t hack it then you shouldn’t have had kids.’ I mean calm down Betty.”
‘Don’t wait on a floor to ceiling window and a fake house plant. I want you to go for it, whatever your ‘it’ is.’: Mom says ‘you can crush your goals now, you can pursue your dreams’
“I have all these mental images of women, dressed for success and sitting desks with their laptops open and their not-even-necessary glasses to the side. The lighting is bright and there is a perfectly groomed plant in the corner by a floor to ceiling window. I felt like an imposter for being successful.”
‘Laura can do it, she’s home every day.’ I was told how hard my husband must have it. They didn’t tell me about the frustrations, the anger.’: Mom tells other stay-at-home moms ‘you are not alone’
“When I had my son, people were asking me, ‘When do you plan to go back to work?’ When I told them I had no plans to immediately go back, I would constantly be told how lucky I am. Then when I had my daughter, I was asked again. I was told I should be so appreciative.”
‘Our young girls are telling their husbands they are unwilling to have sex EVER, because the act seems totally gross.’: Mom proudly says ‘sex is sacred’ and she cannot set her daughters’ ‘moral compass’
“I am not a saint. I never was. But I’m real. Bold statements from a woman who didn’t stay pure for her husband, who has watched pornography, who has lusted and succumbed to perverse desires.”
‘I promise you, mama, you will sleep again. You’re not alone. There are many mamas up at 3 a.m. yawning just like you.’: Mom says you are not alone in your breastfeeding struggles
“Hey mama, did you get up last night? Was it once, 3 times, 20? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. I was up too. Your babies just spent 9 blissful, cozy months in our womb. They come out wanting nothing more than our touch and comfort. They need to be close, feel our warmth, hear our heartbeat.”
‘Why bother?’ She asks herself. ‘Why put myself through it all again this month.’ She walks past this test in Target, and gives it a doubtful glance.’: Woman urges those battling infertility ‘you are not broken’ in viral pregnancy test post
“To any woman picking this box up to stare at it in longing, in mourning, in hesitation. To wonder. To wish. To throw it in her shopping cart again this month. Throwing it in with hope. With fear. With premature excitement. With anticipation. With a sense of dread that it may just be another down the drain waste basket Walmart drop of $12.98.”
‘I’m ‘too attached’ to my child.’ That was the biggest criticism I received. My relationship with my child is none of your business.’: Mom insists children can’t be ‘too attached’
“It started when he was a newborn. Family and friends saying I held him too much and I was going to spoil him.”
