I\u2019ve been the mom who wrote and wrote, and worked and worked, just to prove to myself that I could still \u201cdo it all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who wrote and wrote, and worked and worked because I wanted to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom holding the weight of so much responsibility for tiny little people that I felt I couldn\u2019t handle even one more ounce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who felt like Superwoman, moving through motherhood effortlessly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom with bags under my eyes and never enough coffee in the world to make up for my lack of sleep.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who slept well for several nights in a row and felt like I could do anything.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom whose heart broke when I saw my little girl in pain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who felt like the luckiest woman on the planet because she got to witness her little girl\u2019s joy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who felt less like a wife and more like a roommate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who fell back in love over and over again with the man I chose to have my kids with.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who\u2019s envious of other mothers who made it look easy while I struggle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who held onto my guilt until I sobbed it out unexpectedly in the car when a certain song came on my radio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who laughed until my stomach hurt, because having little kids is so hilarious.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who screamed until my throat hurt, because having little kids is so hard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who wanted a baby while it seemed like everyone else on Facebook had them already.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who didn\u2019t think I could handle two kids, but I tried anyway and had a second daughter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who\u2019s wondered if I would do it all over again if I knew how much more difficult being a parent is than I truly ever did imagine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who answered, \u201cNo, I wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who answered, \u201cOh, hell yes; a million times again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who wasted an afternoon of my child\u2019s life on Twitter just to mentally escape my living room.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who wasted a night of sleep wishing I could have that afternoon back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who made my kids giggle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who said the wrong thing and apologized.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who kisses and cuddles and snuggles and rocks to sleep.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who scolds and demands and teaches manners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom I always wished I could be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom I always hoped I\u2019d be better than.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who fell to her knees and asked God to make me better at my role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who lifted my hands to the sky in praise for this life I feel fortunate to live.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who worried.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who reads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who put on Band-Aids.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who didn\u2019t catch them in time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who had to let them fall and get back up on their own.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who tries and tries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who takes it easy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who lets myself go through motherhood as best as I can, and as well as I\u2019m able to navigate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who wished I had a better map.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who knows my kids love me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who knows my kids are furious at me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who felt ignored.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who felt smothered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who sees the love behind their eyes at night just before they close them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom still holding them when they wake up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who understands I\u2019ll always be a mom, just not to little kids.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who knows this won\u2019t last forever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

(I\u2019ve been the mom who feels like this frustrating moment does last forever, too.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who\u2019s told other moms they\u2019re doing a great job.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who wanted to hug another mom in Target when her kid was screaming and she looked like she wanted to fall through the floor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who loves myself outside of motherhood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom with needs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who feels selfish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom who feels like a martyr.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been the mom consumed by it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I want to be the mom I already am.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I want to see the mom standing right here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I want to tell her she\u2019s good enough, exactly as she is.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been the mom who wrote and wrote, and worked and worked, just to prove to myself that I could still \u201cdo it all.\u201d I\u2019ve been the mom who wrote and wrote, and...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[643],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-and-motherhood"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/takingeasy.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4dYEp-1O5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6949"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6960,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6949\/revisions\/6960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}