On being a Mom

Since about the day after Thanksgiving, each member of our family has taken a turn being sick with some form of ailment or another. And because of that, the people in this house are straight up going crazy. We are all wearing thin on patience, emotions are haywire and the house looks like it belongs on the East Coast post Hurricane Sandy. We rarely go anywhere, so we have an extreme case of cabin fever to top it all off. I've heard, "You're a mean mom!" and "Mom, why are you so evil?" (yeah where did he learn that?)

I'm not proud of that... I am just trying to get some order back in this house and no one wants to help me out.

So I was feeling like a failure as I climbed into bed with sick little Rylan last night in the same clothes I had worn all day... Thinking of all the things that didn't get done and all the tricks to get my kids to clean, get dressed, brush their teeth, etc. that failed miserably, and just as I was about to close my eyes in shame, I heard Parker's little voice from his bed across the room. 

"Mommy, did you know that Jesus was born on Christmas?"

"Yeah... That is why we celebrate Christmas, huh Parker?"

"Yep. Did you know that he was born in a barn because there were no hotel rooms for his mommy and daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"And Mommy, did you know that the animals in the barn knew Jesus was coming?"

"They did? How did they know?"

"Because they were smart."

"Ha ha."

"And mommy, then Jesus got big and the bad guys killed him but don't worry he got resurrected. And when we die, we will get resurrected too. But I don't want to die."

"You are a good boy Parker. I love you."

"I love you too.... and I love Jesus."

It turns out that you don't have to be a perfect mom. You don't have to do everything right every hour of every day. All you have to do is your best and your kids will take what they learn form you and turn it into something wonderful.