Single Moms Welcome to Motherhood

Being a first time mom changes you. You can't help but have it change you yet you are still the same person. I'm still the same goofy, adventurous, sarcastic, Type A personality person I was before. I still like the same things and talk to the same people. I'm still driven by passion and the desire to help others in their quests. I still long to find the man of my dreams (wherever he is) and experience that everything-I-do-I-do-it-for-you kind of love.

But now I KNOW what tired really means. I know that it means, "Thank heavens I got five hours of sleep" and not "I ONLY got five hours of sleep." It means going to bed late and getting up WAY too early... Every.Dang.Day. Can I get a break from it already? No, there is no such thing as a break... no snack break, no lunch break, no Wait.Just.A.Minute. break, not even a shower break, so you can definitely forget a nap break.

You still want to be included... you want to be invited to events, even if the likelihood you will attend is slim. You want to go to a movie, AT.THE.THEATER, even though you will most likely rent it (if you remember to, that is). You want to hang out with friends and have people ask how you are (after all, you are still you, right?!). Even though when they do, you will talk about how your child is and what he/she is doing. Because let's face it, even though you are pretty much the same person, your world has changed.

You give up being selfish, without even really consciously doing it. Now everything and I mea
EVERYTHING stems around your child. When you eat, sleep, shower, get dressed, talk on the phone, and go to the grocery store, EVERYTHING stems around them. There is no "I" in baby. There is no "me" in child. When someone says, "You need 'me' time," don't you just want to punch her in the face and say, "No, what I NEED is a nap, shower, and food, and probably not in that order," because who knows when you last showered or ate yet all you can think about is sleep.

You know what it's like to come home to someone, someone who needs, wants, and loves you. Your protective instinct kicks in, and you can't help but just want to squeeze your baby every time you are around him. You feel the love that is beyond words and can only be felt when you are with your baby, think about your baby, or any and every given moment of the day.

You see, my friend, we moms are the same people as we were before we became moms. But now, we are more... we are sleep deprived, starved, bath craved, love-to-the depths-of-our-core women whose main goal in life is to provide the best environment and loving home for our babies. And our lives as we knew them cease to exist... thankfully... because now we are destined for a bigger, grander purpose. Welcome to momhood.