It seems like yesterday we were ushering in 2012 and our family was announcing to the world that we were expecting our third baby. And here we are already in 2013!
For more than five years now, I’ve been either pregnant or nursing babies back-to-back. Sometimes I wake up and think: “Wow! How did I go from a working wife to a stay-at-home mom of three children under 5 years old?” It’s been a whirlwind to say the least!
I started this column two years ago with intentions of chronicling my journey to becoming a better mom.
But I failed – miserably. Oh, I’ve accomplished a lot of what I set out to do, but the biggest take-away I’ve had in this two-year venture is that there is no set formula to “perfect” motherhood. And propositioning yourself to attain such lofty goals just sets you up for disappointment.
My new motto has become to take things one day at a time and to give myself grace.
Grace when I lock my keys in the car.
Grace when I succumb to electronic Christmas cards instead of taking hours to address, stamp and mail the real things.
Grace when I forget my little girl’s preschool parent-teacher conference because I’d been up most of the night before.
Grace when I swing through the Chick-fil-A drive-through for lunch and order a pizza for dinner instead of cooking from scratch every time.
Grace when I diaper my babies in disposables instead of cloth because the laundry pile is already a mile high with clothes and linens, and I just don’t need more laundry this week.
Grace when the dirty dishes in the sink have been sitting there for two days.
Grace when I have to call off a playdate or a meeting because my home and family need me more.
Grace to my kids when they whine and “wake up on the wrong side of the bed,” because they’ve probably seen those same behaviors in their mommy.
This year I’m ditching the mommy guilt and embracing the mommy grace.
Maybe by focusing on grace, I’ll learn to be a better mother after all.
Giving birth to her second child in October 2010 inspired Erin Odom to become a better mom.
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