I’ve been back to work now from maternity leave for just over a month, walking around with a full heart and a constant grin.
While it gets harder after each baby to come back to work — I’m glad I’m here. It’s a nice break and it allows me not to sweat the small stuff. There’s lots of small stuff.
So many people ask me: “How are you doing it all … four children and their lives, being a wife, working full time, volunteering etc…? You’re a Super Mom!”
Well — honestly I’m not “doing it all.” My husband Keith is amazing, in more ways than one, and I couldn’t do half of what I do without him. And, frankly, there are a lot of things we let slide or forget about because we’re so busy. Some very important things.
If we don’t write down every little thing on our calendar, it WILL be forgotten — and sometimes we miss things on the calendar. Not because we don’t care, but simply because we’re doing something else to fill that brain or physical time.
When we do shine on something important, we just hope we’ve burdened or annoyed someone who has children, because at least then they can relate and forgive us.
But every once in awhile it will be someone we’ve inconvenienced or forgotten about who either doesn’t have children or someone who hasn’t had them in a long time — and you’d think we took away their birthday or something. That’s when I know I’m not the “Super Mom” I may seem.
I’ve learned though not to worry about that.
But instead, worry about making sure I’m paying good attention to the kind and hilarious 13, 5, 2 year-olds and 4 month-old in my home. The time goes by so fast, I want to treasure it, these ages with all their idiosyncrasies. They’re little sponges and they’re so honest and irresistible.
Yes, I have a TEEN-ager. What the heck is that all about — I mean one day they’re 12 and they’re helpful and mostly pleasant then they turn 13 and they’ve lost their brain? This is a phenomenon Keith and I are dealing with everyday now. We look at each other and say — “we weren’t like this.” But our mothers assure us that we were. I tend to give a lot of credit to middle school teachers in particular.
It’s amazing how my reporting skills are so helpful in being a mother to a teenager — the stuff I can get out of him and his friends — it entertains me.
When he really gets to be a handful, Keith and I still thank our lucky stars he is a good, kind kid and really most things are very comical.
McKenna and Isabella have been so endearing with their new baby sister Mia. We are thankful for that because otherwise that would make our lives even more difficult.
All the kids took to her seamlessly. Their reactions were a pleasant surprise. We’d like to forget the way McKenna turned into a little devil for a few months after ‘Bella was born. Yikes!
Those two girls play so well with each other now (when they’re not getting into mischief or wrestling each other to the ground). They love to dance and sing for us or serve us “tea” or a meal from one of their ongoing “parties.” The things that they say are simply priceless. Their minds (and bodies) are always on, it’s exhausting and humorous at the same time. They crack us up!
And Mia … soooo precious. She looks exactly like her sisters did at this age — which is really kind of uncanny. And she is so easy — eat, play, sleep, eat — smiling and giggling all the time at her brother and sisters’ antics.
So, not being a Super Mom, but just an at times forgetful Mom who has a very full heart and a constant grin on her face, is all right with me.
Shannon Sessions is the editor for the Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace edition of the Enterprise Newspapers.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
