What motherhood means to me.

To me life as a full time mom is truly a work of art that comes with many challenges. The kinds of challenges that come from seeing it in a teenager, a tween, a seven year old, and a toddler’s perspective. Having kids five years apart has its pros and cons, but one thing I can count on is that even though they have a huge gap in their ages they will all get along no matter what! 

I don't know many mothers who have many kids with big age gaps, and if they do I'm sure that we are all different when it comes to mothering. My role as a mother has been very different compared to the one my own mother raised me in. 

Oh yes...it's been very different. 

It’s the kind where instead of contention there is happiness. It’s the kind where instead of watching my children fight, curse, and pull hair there is a calm discussion about their disagreement. It’s the kind in which I let all of them know that they are all my favorites because each of them has brought something so special, so unique into this world, and into my life that there is no way in which I have a favorite child. No way.

Motherhood is a battle sometimes.

I wake up each day with a prayer in my heart and hope that they are safe in school, and yes...even in my own home. I do not want them to have the kind of childhood I did, or experiment the things I did. I try my very best to help them in times of stress, need, and most of all when they are tempted. I want to let them know that I love them, and that I'm giving each of them equal time. Each day when they come home safe with a smile on their face I know that battle was won. 

Motherhood is the kind in which I want to give more.

I want to love them more, spend more time with them, communicate with them more, protect them more than my mother did, and even though times are tough in this economy right now I want to provide them with the things they need. I want them to know that I'm listening to them about any problem that they may be having, and in return give them feed back in how I can help them. 

Being involved in their lives no matter if they are seven or 16 is crucial, and it’s important to be involved in everything that they do. I want to show them that although their baby brother who is two and a half keeps me on my toes 24/seven that I will also attend their activities.

Motherhood is about selflessness.

I have always put their needs before my own. I want them to have the best that this world has to offer, and want them to do better than me. I always make sacrifices in order for those things to happen, because it’s the right thing to do. At the end of the day when I look at the big picture, and see that my children hug and kiss me every morning on the cheek, and before bedtime saying those three words “I love you mom” to me, I can say to myself, “I'm doing it right...oh yes, I'm doing it right. 

I love y'all forever and ever!