Last week was my 31st birthday (gulp!) and thanks to my husband, family, and friends, I was showered and pampered for a whole entire week! One of the gifts I received was a book titled “It’s a Mom Thing. Real-World Insight for Proudly Imperfect Mothers.”. I didn’t know what to expect when I first opened the gift. Was the gift-giver trying to tell me something? Did I have some self reflecting to do? I opened the book…

And couldn’t stop laughing from the moment I read page 1 to the moment I hit the end. I saw myself in every single one of the pages. You see, it’s not a story book, it’s a book of 1-2 line phrases/sentences that the author, Tina Neidlein, has to say about motherhood. If you ask me, I would say she has secretly been living in my house since we first brought my son home from the hospital 17 months ago! Some of my favorites are “When you’re in public and you’re singing to yourself about a spider or a teapot or finding a peanut, then yes…You are such a mom.”, “Relax! Nowhere on your gravestone is it gonna say, ‘She gave her kids too much soda’.”, and “They call it a baby “shower” because it may be the last shower you ever get to enjoy again.”.

I must say it was rather comforting reading this book because there is so much pressure out there, especially for stay-at-home-moms, like myself, to be perfect at motherhood and staying home. Well, I am far from perfect. Goodness, my son didn’t even have a Christmas tree or stocking up this year. That’s bad, I know. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love him. I did, afterall, give up my career to care for him…And I have 25 extra pounds of “stuff” on my body because of him and for once in my life I don’t mind it. Ok, maybe I mind a little, but I wouldn’t trade it for him if I was given the opportunity. And there is no one else in this world (sorry, husband) that I would do this for!

So, in the end, I am content knowing that although I wish I was hard-wired to be like Martha Stewart, I am not and never will be Martha Stewart. For the 2% out there who ARE Martha’s…you are doing a great job! And to the 98% of you out there who are NOT Martha’s…you are doing a great job! Now go ahead and repeat after me…”I am proud to say that I am NOT a perfect mom!” See, doesn’t it feel good to let it out?

-Victoria