On Motherhood: The Juggling, The Judgement and The Loss

Just one of the benefits I have found I receive from blogging, is that I have the opportunity to read many heart felt, thought provoking, funny and sad posts on motherhood. Blogging provides an avenue to debrief, to question, to share and to seek advice – a perfect forum for mothers.

This month’s post highlights all come from Aussie mums, who have discussed motherhood in some aspect. It is always so comforting to know that others are going through similar experiences as yourself! For my contribution on this topic, I have a post scheduled for tomorrow looking at the tough parts of life with a young family.

1. Tricky

Kate from Picklebums eloquently expresses the constant juggle a mum faces. Trying to balance the needs of the children, the house, work and your own interests – is it possible to keep all these balls in the air?

Then comes the other stuff… blogging and designing. I’m not ditching those either. That stuff is important to me… it is about me being me, not me being a mother or a wife or a cook.

2. A Juggling Act

Inspired by Kate’s post above, Cath at Squiggle Mum discusses the juggling act as well including a fantastic quote from her friend:

“I picture myself juggling a lot of balls. Sometimes, I drop a ball. In most cases, that’s not too big of a deal. But a few of the balls, like my husband and my kids, are glass balls. So I make sure I do whatever it takes not to shatter those balls.”

3. Navel Gazing

Alison at Three Time Kewl is a constant inspiration to me. The loss that she has endured I cannot even imagine, yet she has this amazing knack to self reflect and see the positives:

I may not be surrounded by my freak family and I may not be watching Zy grow up – But I AM surrounded by an amazing family of little people, and I have the absolute privilege of watching them grow up.

4. In All It’s Ugliness

Tiff at Three Ring Circus is another mother who has endured loss and is also completely inspiring with the way she approaches her family life. With her dear Ivy suffering, there are so many difficult decisions that she must make. This post gives us an insight into just how hard that can be.

I second guess everything. I stress over the decisions

but

it’s just the way it is.

It’s motherhood, really.

Everything starts with a choice and ends with one too.

It can be a hard thing to carry and I am far from perfect and I worry all the time.

5. Letting Go

Cath from Zucchini in Bikinis has three lovely girls aged 6, 4 and 6 months. In this post, Cath talks very openly about the challenge of returning to work (working from home) with a young family.

My week works out if everything goes perfectly according to plan. Any variation, no matter how minor, throws my ability to deliver for work into utter disarray. I have no margin of error here, none whatsoever.

6. Conflicting Emotions

Christie from Childhood 101 writes very honestly about how she entered pregnancy and motherhood:

I love being a Mum and I am sorry that I bought into the myth that our society has created, that there is plenty of time to have a career before having a family. For many women, that simply isn’t true. Me, I was lucky, I waited and still was blessed with a beautiful daughter.

7. Burn Brightly

Trish from Little Drummer Boys wrote a truly touching post in recognition of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day (October 15th):

Our tiny rose lent not given, to bud on Earth and bloom in Heaven.
Cradled briefly in our arms and forever our hearts. Sleep sweet baby in the Father’s arms…till we hold you again.

8. Aren’t We Smarter Than This?

Super Kawaii Mama writes a fantastic piece on how women can be too quick to judge each other:

You’d hope that we would have matured beyond that. When it comes to the big “What to Wear at the School Gate”, it is entirely up to you. Dress up, dress down – but figure out what makes you happier and WHY you are doing it……..It’s only a war if you choose to be in it.

9. Anxious

Veronica from Some Day We Will Sleep always writes so evocatively. Having recently lost someone incredibly dear to her, in this post she shares how the grief she feels makes those tough times of mothering even tougher.

I love my children dearly, but they’re very needy at the moment.

Like -

really needy.

And I’m not sure I can breathe, underneath this mountain of need they have.

***

I knew this would happen. The crash.

Nan died three months ago and for that three months I’ve been caught up in merely moving from one moment to another without thinking about myself. Just getting things done for this family of mine.

Caught up in the coping.

And apparently, the grief has caught up with me.

10. A Letter To Other Parents At School

Jen at Semantically driven gives great insight into how as a parent you can have trouble fitting in to the school crowd.

Maybe you’ve pre-judged them because their child’s always in trouble and maybe their child has called your child a ‘fat-arse’ and you think that the parent must have somehow influenced the child saying that.

Maybe you think that because their child is in trouble nearly all the time that they don’t care about this and wouldn’t be worth knowing.

Maybe if you reached out that parent might really like some support and a friendly chat.

Now grab yourself a cup of tea and click through to these fabulous posts and enjoy!

Tagged as: family, mothers, parenting