What is Motherhood?

Parenting Magazine is having a contest on this topic. People are to enter a 300 word or less essay on what motherhood means to them. I wasn't planning on entering, but have been thinking about this a lot, so decided to enter for fun.

Here is what I submitted:

Motherhood means being woke up each morning at six even though your alarm is set for six-thirty. Motherhood is carpooling. It is pizza dinner and soccer practice on Tuesday nights. It is running through all of your children’s names before calling your child by the right one. It is not noticing when you call them the wrong name until they point it out.

Motherhood is finding out (the messy way) that gum really doesn’t stay in your system for seven years. Motherhood is the anticipation of the weekly grocery ads that come in the mail and preparing your menu around the sales.

Motherhood is answering a million important questions…many with “I don’t know” or “That’s a very good question” (followed by a Google search). Motherhood is learning something new from your children every day. It is reading Goodnight Moon to your toddler over and over again even though you just don’t get what the fascination is with that book.

Motherhood is being able to nurse a two month old and brush your daughter’s teeth. Motherhood is counting your kids every five minutes in public places. It is being able to fit your to-do list for the day into the first hour of your children’s nap so you can crash with them the second half.

Motherhood is getting your children to bed and then getting things ready to start all over again tomorrow. It is picking up your sleeping newborn to snuggle just because. It is going back through each of the rooms and kissing your children goodnight again even though they are sleeping. It is being thankful each day for the gift each of your children brings to your family. Not wanting to change a minute of it…even when it isn’t always a walk in the park.