Does a job where you are on your feet 24 hours a day with no breaks? Do you have a culinary arts degree and are an expert in project management & medicine? How about no vacations, no holidays and offers no pay? Want to apply for the world's toughest job?
The job is called Motherhood. Congrats, if you're reading this you are probably already employed or ready to be hired!
Now look, we know that the love and indescribable joy you get as a mom seems almost crazy, but the truth is no one looking for a "job" would even apply given those requirements. Yet millions of parents every year are over the moon excited and scared to begin this "career".
If you haven't seen this video yet- it's awesome. It was produced by Cardstore for American Greetings. Sit back and have a laugh, then call your mom and thank her.
Well my first job as mom was accepted when I got married to my husband. He had a 13 year old son from his previous marriage. Ex-wife and teenage kid- all the "baggage" I swore as a single person that I would try to stay away from. I am so glad I didn't! Honestly, I had more "issues" with all the terrible relationships I had been through! Not to mention my husband said he would never date let alone marry anyone with little dogs. Thankfully, my two favorite men in the world looked past my single lady habits & yappy wiener dogs and made me part of the family.
Fast forward to marriage and a sweet baby girl. Our family has grown and our life has changed drastically. The idea of redefining my life has been the hardest thing I have ever done. I thought being married with a teen was a big shift. On the day we had our daughter it was like the whole world flipped upside down.
As promised before, I will tackle the real day to day with postpartum. For now let's stick to the goal of introducing you to MNAC.
So, now what? While attempting to learn my baby, with a heart that just exploded, with eyes burning from tears & sleepless nights, I looked for support. What I found was the uncontrollable urge to compare myself, dare I say it- my baby, to everyone else! This lead to the hours of wasted time on instagram and facebook while I sat in a rocking chair trying not to wake my finally alseep poop machine. I had so many friends that had babies around the same time, so I had lots of ammo to shoot myself with. "Wow, she breast feeds her baby like she's got a faucet on her chest" or "How is that baby walking already? My baby scoots around like she's mopping the floor". The self deprecation got way worse. I will spare you.
Finally, when you are smart enough to stop your masochistic social media stalking, you turn to the "experts". By expert I mean finding any website that tells you you are not crazy. If you decide to do "baby weaned" feeding, you'll find all kinds of sites that say its the best. If you search, "breast feeding until your kid is in college" you'll find a site that says that's how Einstein was raised.
How in the world do you just get a "real" conversation? Real moms, making mistakes, doing their best, taking on all the aspects of their life like a boss? That's what I needed. I need real stories of not just how to survive motherhood, but thrive.
So I started Mama Needs a Cocktail. Let's be clear, this is not a blog about drinking. But, I don't judge. Every mom needs an outlet to be an individual and to unwind. Some moms will do Crossfit, some will do book club. I like Happy Hour.
MNAC is a place to share, laugh at ourselves, & support each other. We got this.
I would love to hear your stories! We have a few things we look for in contributors & guests. In the meantime, I raise my glass to you!