Being a Mom means

Here's a belated Mother's Day post. In a span of 10 years, I was either pregnant, breastfeeding or potty training. After 4 kids, I realize I'm no expert and there were times I wondered: Lord, what have I done to deserve this! Is there any sin I haven't confessed? But I have many good memories too and I would never trade those for anything else in this world! So here's to you moms:

Being a mom means...
...getting rid of those high heels that you love wearing because its impossible to run after a toddler in the mall with them on
...forgetting to match your shoes with the baby bag which has become your all year round accessory
...learning to do everything with one arm, even cooking a meal because you need to hold a child with your hip and other arm
...stop eating in the middle of your meal, picking up the stinky baby, changing a diaper and returning to your meal with the same gusto as if nothing happened at all
...walking in your sleep to the crib to pick up the crying baby because your husband who is normally sensitive to noise is all of a sudden deaf
...letting the kids get the best parts of the chicken and learning to really enjoy eating what's left
...having a baby who farts really loud and saying, "excuse me" when everyone looks your way
...trying to explain to your daughter that her new baby brother has different private parts
...taking pictures of your naked babies with the intention of showing these during their wedding reception
...playing monopoly with your kids and giving them all your money when they run out of theirs
...not acting surprised or raising your eyebrows when your child receives the Most Behaved certificate in school
...keeping cool when your son has a gash on his head and you can see his skull when you clean up the blood
...learning to skillfully manuever a stroller on the up or down escalator without causing an accident
...asking help from the Lord when your one year old stuffs a bean up his nostril (thank God he sneezed!)
...mastering the art of pulling out your breast in public to feed a baby without catching everyone's attention
...realizing that with the addition of each child, your love is not divided but multiplied
...even if you fumble big time and ask for your child's forgiveness, he/she is always willing to forgive
...loving every home made card with stick figures and scribblings that say you are the best mom in the world (Hallmark cards could not compare with these!)
...feeling every hurt in your heart when your child is bullied or unjustly treated by others
...hearing a small voice say, "Mom you're talking in your sleep!" when you realize that you had fallen asleep while reading a bedtime story
...believing that even if your child's ranking is 17 out of 24 students in his class, he will someday grow up and do important things for this world
...making a big thing out of their birthdays because you're just glad they were born
...blowing into fat tummies and hearing laughter peal from tickled babies
...understanding what God's unconditional love is about because there is nothing your child can do to make you love them more
...giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and ...
...even if all your kids grow up to be taller than you, you will always remember the time when they were small enough to sit on your lap and you could give them lots of hugs and kisses whether they liked it or not
...even if the day has been horrible and yet you gave it your best shot, you know that the Lord's love and grace will patch up the holes
...loving the child with all your being the very minute you learned you were pregnant
...realizing how much your own mom loves you and appreciating her for all she has done for you
...investing your love, time and life on a child without expecting anything in return

and the list goes on...