“It’s taken 34 years to realize…see yourself through the eyes of the person who snapped the photo of you.”
‘I thought I looked good, but then I saw a picture of myself.’: Woman shares important reminder ‘you look good when your heart and soul feel good’
‘To the woman who cannot afford to stock up on essentials for her baby right now, you are still a good mother.’: Woman pens note to mothers struggling through coronavirus pandemic
“To the woman who has to wait until pay day to pick up six bottles of hand sanitizer. To the woman who is full of fear for her children’s school being cancelled because there is no Plan B for childcare. To the woman who is crippled with anxiety because she doesn’t have the mental capacity to homeschool right now, you are still a good mother. And a virus cannot (and will not) change that.”
‘This is not the time to let it become the Wild West at your house. Your kids need to feel safe.’: Mom explains how to prepare for extended school closings, ‘This will be hard, but we can do it’
“We are in uncharted territory now. I’m almost certain we will remember this time – and how we came together, or didn’t – decades from now.”
‘I miss you already, my baby. You used to need me so much. I cherish the times I was the one to feed you, hold you, calm you. Time is a funny thing.’: Mom warns ‘it goes by so fast’
“So tonight, while you were sleeping, I went to your room and counted your freckles. I gently tangled my fingers in your curls. I listened to you breathe. I sat beside your bed and tried to meet you in your dreams. We laughed and sang in silly voices until it was time for me to go to my own room. I whispered, ‘I love you,’ in your ear. I knew from the beginning you were going to grow. I had no idea how it would simultaneously rip me to pieces.”
我9岁的说,我想要吃点东西ed to eat with my old family. Sometimes, I like to remember how strong I had to be.’: Foster mom shares heartbreaking story of son’s trauma, ‘We must not give up on our kids’
“He said his old parents wouldn’t feed him due to being passed out. All their money was spent on cigarettes and other ‘fun things.’ At age 6, he would find change in their van, buy Ramen packets at the store down the street, and make dinner for himself and his brothers (ages 2 and 4 months). He didn’t know how to boil water, so he had to eat it raw. ‘I’m not sad I’m not with my old family anymore, but sometimes I like to remember how strong I had to be.'”
‘I have the perfect body. I really do.’: Mom shamelessly celebrates ‘thick, swollen’ body after multiple pregnancies, admits it’s ‘pretty darn incredible’
“我的乳房向下,肿胀,静脉y, but they’ve supplied 4,560 meals. My thighs are speckled with cellulite, but they’ve walked 1.8 million steps carrying a toddler or pushing a stroller. My stomach is a big white balloon ready to pop, but my babies lived and thrived in it for 27 months. My arms are twice as thick, but they’ve rocked a newborn to sleep 1,200 times. And that happens to be pretty freaking awesome.”
‘I was holding hands with my boys when a friend shook his head at me. ‘Ya know, you’re raising them to be mama’s boys.’ Every hair on my arm stood up.’ Mom with all-boy tribe criticized for raising ‘mama’s boys’
“It was a neighborhood street, but the darkening sky and numerous curves made me a little nervous. So, I kept my boys close to me. And just like that, the cool air was replaced with hot steam billowing from my ears. He continued to list reasons why raising mama’s boys was a NEGATIVE thing. It was one of those Mama Bear moments you don’t see coming, but hits hard and fast.”
‘To my child who gets dragged from place to place because of your siblings, I have guilt. We go to THEIR play spaces, sports, summer camp pickups. And you are constantly waiting.’: Mom apologizes to her ‘drag-along child’
“You wait as I get your siblings ready for the day. You wait as I break up their fights. You wait as I load them into the car, in tears of frustration because you need me, but I need to get them somewhere by a certain time. I don’t get enough chances to take all of you in, to enjoy your coos and smiles. You don’t have all of me.”
‘Why do we lie and utter the words ‘I’m fine’ to our friends? I’m tired of hiding, and I think you are, too.’ Mom admits motherhood has served her ‘a big slice of humble pie’
“Today, I lost it. Finito. Buh-bye. GONE. I could feel my nerves fraying at the seams and in true me fashion, I cried. This is what no one tells you about. The hard stuff. If a friend shares her truth and says she’s in a funk, don’t tell her your life is sunshine and rainbows. Tell her you’re in the freaking arena with her.”
‘My son died all alone in his apartment. In the blink of an eye, my family changed. It seemed impossible to think I wouldn’t see him, hug him ever again.’ Mom’s 26-year-old son dies due to ‘senseless price of insulin’
“Insulin was $1,300 a month. My son left the pharmacy empty-handed. He lasted only 27 days without insurance. I’d been to my fare share of funerals, but nothing prepares you for the death of your child.”
