Month: November 2008

Categories
Fulfillment

Maria Shriver on motherhood

Maria Shriver is a journalist and the First Lady of California. When she appeared on the Oprah show in 2004, she made an observation that I totally agree with:

How do we get women to stop saying, “I’m just a mother”? Or, “I used to be such and such, but now I’m just a mother?” We need to market motherhood. So I came up with a saying: “Motherhood: 24/7 on the frontlines of humanity. Are you man enough to try it?”

We’ve discussed this quote before and most of you felt that we needed to start by taking more pride in what we do as mothers and not allowing others to disparage or belittle it.

Do you still agree with that? What else can we do to stand up for ourselves and our callings?

Do you have a quote from a famous mom? Submit it to famousmoms (at) mamablogga.com and we’ll discuss it one week, and you’ll get a link (if you include your URL, of course).

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Laughter

I’m finally getting around to uploading all the videos I’ve taken recently. This one features a happy, laughing Rebecca (two and a half months) and a singing, laughing Hayden (two and a half+ years).

Categories
Kids/Parenting Fulfillment

Learning from motherhood

Sometimes, motherhood is a treadmill. I’m running myself ragged, but never really getting anywhere. (This is why I hate treadmills.)

Of course, as a mom sometimes the exhaustion goes beyond the physical. Sometimes I feel like as soon as I get a grasp on one age or stage, everything changes. The minute I accept Hayden’s three nap schedule, he grows out of his third nap.

I feel like a passage in Second Timothy, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Or at least the children. (Don’t even get me started on the laundry!)

But for now, I feel rather competent—and I’ll enjoy it as long as I can!

Do you ever feel like you’re climbing a mountain of sand when it comes to understanding your job as a mother?

Categories
Fulfillment Faith

Joy in the journey part 1

At the most recent General Conference of my church, there was an excellent talk on having joy in the journey. The speaker, the leader of my church, made several great points about raising children—and keeping perspective while doing that.

If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.

As I type this, I’m sitting on a stained couch, next to a waist-deep pile of laundry, across the room from the nose-and-mouth prints on the entertainment center. I’ll go to bed only to wake up three or four times tonight to nurse Rebecca, then get up earlier than I want to to take care of her or Hayden.

And this is what I’ll miss? Yep, says this father, grandfather and great-grandfather. I think the thing that I like most about this quote is the aside of “to your surprise.” It shows that he knows what it’s like to be here.

I think, though, that even though we don’t care for hearing this, we all know this. During the difficult times, it might be hard to believe that we’ll miss all this. But during the good times, the peaceful times, the adorable times, we know that they won’t last. They can’t last. My little children will disappear before my eyes—they already are.

So every once in a while, the reminder that I’ll miss these days makes me value them a little more. How about you?

Categories
Kids/Parenting

He’s got plans

Tonight I was trying to tell Hayden that we’d get to do a web cam call with my parents tomorrow.

“Hayden,” I asked, “tomorrow for Family Home Evening—or maybe just in the evening—”

“Me busy,” he regretfully informed me.

…. Oh.

Categories
Fulfillment

Angelina Jolie on motherhood

In case you haven’t seen celebrity gossip over the last few years, I’ll just tell you: Angelina Jolie has a bunch of kids, and she’s supposed to have a couple more pretty soon here.

A little over a year ago, Jolie was interviewed by Reader’s Digest, and I found this quotation on receiving support from her partner, Brad Pitt (you’ve heard of him?):

He encourages the right things. If I’ve had a full day and just really been a hands-on mom, he’ll make a point to let me know that’s something he’s proud of. If I’m writing an Op-Ed, he’s the first person to want to read the drafts. I could be dressed up in the sexiest outfit for a photo shoot, and by his behavior, he’ll let me know that’s nice, but it’s nothing as sexy as when I’m home surrounded by the kids or reading books, educating myself. He slows me down to kind of get it right, to relax into the strength of my family and the love.

I like the support that she describes here, but most of all, I think it’s really important for us to “slow . . . down to . . . get it right, to relax into” our families and our love. What helps you to slow down?

Do you have a quote from a famous mom? Submit it to famousmoms (at) mamablogga.com and we’ll discuss it one week, and you’ll get a link (if you include your URL, of course).