Some thoughts on Motherhood

Caleb was up around 5am this morning. Teething. Need I say more?

Two molars poked through his gums yesterday and two more are on the way. Which is why I made an emergency trip to Wal-Mart this morning for more berry-flavored Children's Motrin. This also explains why it's 9:30 and Caleb's already down for a nap. =p This mommy needs one, too.

I'm usually angry when Caleb wakes up uncharacteristically early. I was sorta disgruntled this morning, too, until I trudged into the kitchen to see what ungodly hour it was. 5:30 read the clock on the microwave. I decided to let him cry a while, because sometimes he will put himself back to sleep. And I knew he needed more sleep. (So did I ;) But twenty minutes later he was still wailing, so I went in, picked him up with his blanket, and sat in the rocking chair.

Now, my son doesn't usually snuggle. He's not the cuddling sort of guy. So when he lay quietly on my chest, head on my shoulder, for half an hour, I knew he didn't feel good. I said to myself: "Teething."

Mommyhood is more guts than glory. I'm finding this true as Caleb gets older. I've learned something else, as well. Motherhood is not about me. That may sound profound, but it's a bitter pill to swallow when you're used to being self-centered. Like me.

My dad got me this book for Mother's Day. It's called just MOMS and it's one of those quote-on-one-page-photo-on-the-other little square books. This one's really cute. All the pictures are of baby animals and their mommies. The quotes are good too. Here are a few I wanted to share with you for Mother's Day:

"People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one." -- Leo J. Burke

"There are times when parenthood seems nothing more than feeding the mouth that bites you." -- Peter De Vries

"When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out." -- Erma Bombeck

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new." -- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

"The fundamental job of a toddler is to rule the universe." -- Lawrence Kutner

"Any mother could perform the jobs of several air-traffic controllers with ease." -- Lisa Alther

"A toddler believes that if you love a person, you stay with that person 100% of the time."--Lawrence Balter

"You will always be your child's favorite toy." -- Vicki Lansky

"The toughest thing about raising kids in convincing them that you have seniority." -- Gene Brown

Happy Mother's Day to those of you, my friends, who are mothers. You know what it is to love your children at the same moment you are frustrated beyond belief with them. For me this morning, I'd rather have been in bed sleeping than rocking my unhappy son. But I realized, thanks to the grace and quiet whispering of God, that my usually on-the-go little boy was actually snuggling with me. Something, I may have mentioned, he n e v e r does. And I had to smile as I realized that, even though I was tired, I was enjoying that moment of mommyhood. I loved my son, and teething was ok, because I got to hold him and just be there with him.

Nothing in the world can top that. I know you fellow mommies can understand exactly what I mean. :)