I'm in the Business of Raising Babies

You're going to be sitting - quiet, content, happy -when it's going to happen. A familiar face will stop by and you'll get to chatting, or you'll overhear a conversation from two tables over...

"They had a baby last spring but she doesn't even work now. She is soo lucky. Can you imagine having all of that free time all day?"

And when it happens it's going to sting in a way that is unexpected, and a huge part of you will want to throw your hands up and just give up on it all, and another part of you will want to push them down into a chair and give them the kind of lecture that your parents gave you when you were 16 and they caught you making out in the back yard with your boyfriend for the first time.

Girl, I get it.

Being a mom is tough business and being a stay-at-home mom, well, it's not all coloring pages, play-dates, and afternoon naps. But it is rewarding and worth it, and likely the most important job you will ever do in your entire life. Soak that in for a minute.

When your kids are grown and you actually have a moment to breathe, you won't regret it.

You won't regret the afternoon when the baby won't stop crying and dinner is burning in the stove and the dog is running loose through the neighborhood without his collar on and you are a panicked mess with your husband on the other line of the phone telling you to calm down and that things will be okay.

You won't regret the long nights of stuffy noses, nose-suckers, humidifiers, and absolutely no sleep with a 7 o'clock doctor's appointment the following morning where you get stuck in traffic, sit in the waiting room for an hour, and then are told that it's just a cold, wait it out, and that everything will be okay.

You won't regret the brand new box of Cheerios dumped all over the floor, two dogs eating as fast as they can, and your almost-two year old on all fours joining them while the neighbor is knocking on your front door to tell you that your sewage system is backing up into their yard again. "No worries, just call the city, they understand - it'll be okay."

Because despite all the times where you're ready to pull every grey strand of hair from your head, you're going to look back and realize that the most important part was that your kids ran to your arms while eating your dinner, and YOU taught them their ABC's and how to say their name and how to tie their shoes and what to say when someone gives them a gift and that their life was the most important thing to you. Ever.

And all of it really was okay.

Mama, they're going to remember this. Sure, they'll forget the details, but they're going to look back one day with a great sense of awe and love and gratefulness and say, "my mom gave her all for me."

So when you overhear that conversation and the needles shoot straight to your heart, hold your head up high and just smile. Smile like you know some secret that no one else knows. And when they ask you what you do all day, just simply tell them, "I'm in the business of raising and loving my babies."