Today I did not style my daughter’s hair in a heart shaped fashion, we did not eat cute little food cut into hearts, and I didn’t even dress my children in spiffy red clothes. A lot of my Facebook friends did one or the other or all of them. The Michelle from 4 years ago probably would have felt a little inferior or she may have tried to keep up with the heart shaped french braids. The old Michelle did try to reemerge when I first saw all the cute little heart shaped foods but that lasted for about 3.5 seconds and I reminded myself that I am not that kind of mother. And I don’t feel the need to try to keep up with anyone (I do try to keep up with my own ideals, in my own head).
This Michelle is much happier than the Michelle from 4 years ago. This Michelle doesn’t stress about every little thing. This Michelle watched from the back window (with a sick babe on her hip) as her son licked the snow off his truck that had been buried all winter, and she didn’t freak out. Heck, she’s even okay admitting that we eat cookies for dinner once a month.
I don’t know when it happened, probably around the time Elijah was born but I’m glad it happened. Boy, I’m glad I don’t compare myself with other mothers anymore (at least not on a regular basis). Now I know better than to compare my behind the scenes with someone else’ shinning moments. I mean, do you ever hear anyone put on Facebook, ‘I sat in the corner and cried for 3 hours while my children watched 12 episodes of Max and Ruby’? Nope, you only see heart shaped food and heart shaped braids.
(I mean no disrespect to heart shaped anything, I’m just using it as an example.)
I often wonder what motherhood must have been like before the internet. Then you only had to compare yourself with your own mother and your handful of friends, not 500 ‘friends’ that you haven’t seen in 10 years.
(Chris’ cousin posted this on Facebook, and I love it)
I totally need one of those! I don’t drink coffee but I would proudly drink my Diet Coke out of it!
Dominoes are a pretty big hit, for about a minute.
Elijah wore those pajamas for a full 48 hours before I finally changed him, or maybe Chris did.
And that’s okay!
Nazelrod Family 