My Evolution as a Mom

Then: Refers to the period of time when I had one or even two kids.
Now: Present-day life with 3 kids.

Important to note: I am making no value judgments on any of these. This is just how it is for me. :)

Then: Made sure I looked nice, with hair done (perhaps in a ponytail but still done) before leaving the house. If I got spit-up on, I would change.

Now: Couldn't care less what the people at the grocery store think of how I look. I have a window of time to get the shopping done, and it must get done whether or not I've had time to shower/dry my hair/change out of spit-up-stained clothes.

(One morning, I literally put a sweatshirt over the pajamas I slept in and went shopping like that. This would have horrified my former self.)

Then: Made sure my kid(s) looked nice before leaving the house. That meant their hair was done and they were wearing decent, matching clothes.

Now: I'm lucky if their hair has been combed, let alone styled in any way beyond a clip to keep it out of their eyes, and if they are in fact wearing clean underwear (or any underwear at all) under their frequently mismatched clothing.

(To be fair: This isn't so much due to a change in me as to a growing need for independence in my kids. Why must they have their own opinions, anyway?)

Then: Carefully dressed the baby in coordinated outfits with matching shoes and socks, long before the child had any use for shoes.

Now: Don't even own a pair of shoes that would fit the baby. Don't bother with socks, either. They'll just end up lost on aisle 13 of Target. I'm sure it's warm enough.

Then: Kind of disgusted at the sight of baby food, particularly such fare as Garden Vegetable or Chicken Dinner. Felt slightly guilty about feeding it to my child.

Now: No qualms about licking the spoon of Garden Vegetable clean in order to put it back in the diaper bag, or licking off a glob that dropped on my hand. It's really not that bad.

Then: Had no desire to touch my kids' uneaten food. Yuck. It went in the trash.

Now: The uneaten food is my lunch. So what if the peanut butter sandwich is smashed and a little soggy. At least it's edible and available.

Then: Made sure the high chair tray was scrubbed clean after each meal.

Now: As long as there aren't any choking hazards on it, we're good. A little dried peas and some stale Cheerios never hurt anyone.

Then: If we were out of baby food, we went to the store right then to buy some. What else would we feed her?

Now: Rarely have much baby food in the house. Have to get creative and have even made a lot of my own. There's plenty of available food the baby can eat.

Then: Made sure to time EVERY feeding while nursing in an attempt to make sure she had eaten enough. If she didn't nurse long enough, I would try to force her to eat more, giving up in frustration if she refused.

Now: If he's done, he's done. He's got some chub and is growing fine.


Motherhood is... hard. Just when you think you've been through some hard things as a mom, you go through something harder. It changes you in unexpected ways. It's humbling--that much is for sure.

It'll be interesting to see what my perceptions will be 10 years from now when I have teenage girls.