It's been almost 3 years since I became a SAHM. It's hard to believe that much time has gone by since Thing 1 was born but, wouldn't ya know it? Thing 2 is going to be a year in June. Where does the time go?
I was reading through my latest issue of Today's Parent today and I saw an ad for some weird stroller/tricycle thing and I was hit with this understanding of something about myself that I had never realized before. When I first became a stay at home mom, I knew those first months were going to be spent breastfeeding, changing diapers and rocking my baby to sleep. But I also thought that once my baby was a little older that I would be like those women in the ads. My baby weight would disappear right after birth. I would have perfect children who were happy to do whatever I felt like doing. We would go for walks with them in their fancy, expensive strollers and I would sit at Starbucks every day and people watch with my little one.
None of that happened. I'm now 10 months into baby #2 and I still have about 5 lbs to go. Rarely do my kids have any interest whatsoever in what I need/want to do. I don't own an expensive stroller because The Hubs and I live on a pretty strict budget so we only buy what we need that's within a certain price range. I brought Thing 1 to Starbucks once and he screamed the entire time and I felt ridiculously embarassed.
Nope, I'm not one of those "ad moms" but realizing that has given me a whole new perspective. I'm a real mom.
