Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to any readers I might have out there who are moms!

As we get ready to celebrate Bebe's First Holy Communion and then follow it with a barbecue at a local park, here I am sitting at my computer writing my very own Mother's Day confessional. I am not a perfect mom, and I am going to list the Top 10 reasons why. (If you have pearls, go get them, so you can gasp and clutch them at any moment. And if you don't have pearls, a necklace made of cereal and strings will do!)

10) I hate playing Littlest Pet Shop, Squinkies, Little People, etc. Somewhere in the last few years my imagination apparently died. Because when I sit down to play these things, I'm immensely bored.

9) My children are very familiar with quick go-to meals like boxed mac 'n cheese, chicken nuggets, and pot pies.

8) I've hit my children before. Yes, I have, out of frustration and anger. And I regret doing so, because that's the type of house *I* grew up in. But apologies and lessons learned always followed.

7) Bebe only drinks chocolate milk. Yup, she hates all other beverages. And I hate that she only drinks chocolate milk.

6) I feed my children food I don't eat. OK, some of this, I have a reason for. I'm allergic to it (OK to MANY different things). But there are some things I CAN eat, I just choose NOT to, and yet I make THEM eat it. Before my food allergies developed (as a teen/in adulthood), I was a picky eater. My allergies initially made me pickier, but in recent years I've broadened my palate. I give them a lot of foods to try because I don't want them to be picky like I was.

5) I never finished Bebe's baby book, and Dois' has never been taken out of its box.

4) I raise my voice a lot. Sometimes, I feel like it's the ONLY way Bebe will listen to me. Our personalities are so different, and I often take things personal. I'm working on it, but I yell a lot more than I'd like to.

3) There are times when I just want to run away. To a very, very far corner of the earth where I can just cover my ears and rock back and forth for a while.

2) My kids get way too much "screen time." I think this is one of the trade-offs for me working full-time and D working 2 jobs. The screens are definitely babysitters while I get normal day-to-day stuff done.

1) I'm human. Yup, not a robot, so I'm going to make mistakes here and there. Hopefully (at least so far it's been true) the kids will continue to love me and we'll keep growing together. Life is just one big learning experience after all, isn't it?