Proud To Be A Mama!

Tallulah at Ballet

I often have many moments as a mama when I find I am laughing to myself because I am having a "mama" moment.  "Mama" moments are those moments when you cannot believe you are actually in the middle of doing something like wearing your breastfriend pillow while feeding your 4 month old and being thankful that it straps on and you can hold your baby in place because you have to be able to wipe your recently potty trained toddler's poop buns and then manage to wash their hands as well as your own and be able to go back to feeding. 

All mamas know those moments I am talking about.  Well, today was another one of those moments but this one was a very proud "mama" moment.  One of those moments where you feel very connected to all the mamas around you because you realize that all us are trying to accomplish the same thing.  We are all trying to give our children everything we can so they grow up to be happy, loved, well rounded individuals.

Today, my daughter Tallulah had ballet class at the local YMCA.  The YMCA is a place where there are many mamas like me, who are there taking their child or children to class.  Just like me, many of them are wearing one baby in a carrier while chasing after another on the playground.  It is always hectic!  After class, my daughter, Tallulah said she had to go potty.  We were already at the car so we decided she would go in her little portable potty, which she loves.  So I set her up in the back seat with her potty, just like she likes it and she hung out for a bit while she went "pee and poo", as she calls it.  Meanwhile, my 4 month old son, Joaquin, is in his car seat and ready to go home because he is hungry and tired.  At this point, I am also hungry, tired and have to go the bathroom but all those things are sacrificed in order to make sure my children are taken care of.  My daugther is then finished, I clean her up, put the potty away and get her loaded in to her car seat so we can all go home for lunch. 
Once, we are all in the car, I back out of my parking spot and proceed to drive away.  As I drive away, I pass a mom who is changing her baby's diaper in the back of her car, then another mom, changing her toddler son out of his bathing suit while her baby is waiting in it's stroller, then another mom who had one child in the back of the car, sitting and eating a snack, while she changed her baby's diaper and her oldest stood by the car listening to their Ipod.  This actually went on and on.  There were two other moms beyond this group of moms, all doing the same thing.  I began to smile and then laugh to myself but then a sense of pride came over me.  I was proud to be a mama and a good one at that and was proud to be in the company of all these other wonderful mamas, who were doing the same thing  as I was.
As mamas, we are all taking it one day at a time and we often sacrifice ourselves for the sake of our children.  At times, it is so tiring and so hard but it is so worth it.  Today was a reminder of that for me and also a reminder that as a mama, you are never alone.  So next time you are out and about, running to the grocery store or at the park, remember that there is always a mama next to that is just like you.