There is no limit to the amount challenges that a mom faces in a day. The constant highs and lows of motherhood whip us around, chews us up, and spits us out. To some it can be hard to understand why moms always seem burnt out and exhausted in every way possible. Here are just a few of the common issues moms face daily.

The never ending lack of sleep:

Sleep is like a mythical character, something from a far away land that we read about in children’s books. It’s no longer a part of our world as moms. Remember that thing called sleep? Ha!

Moms are going non stop- from that first cry of our names in the morning to the last bed check at night. From the moment we get up, we are multitasking. Changing the baby, as we supervise teeth brushing toddler, the coffee is brewing, and we are making a list of what we have to buy at the store later.

We are at 150% all day.  Constantly looking for what the kids can destroy or get hurt on, keeping track of the house, meals, bills, phone calls, grocery list, and fifty other things on our plate.

At the end of the day we are beaten down and exhausted, however we still have the night shift of chasing monsters always and rocking babies back to sleep.

 

Second guessing themselves:

Was I the best I could be? Did I handle that correctly? Was I too hard on the kids? Was I too lenient with them today? I wish I hadn’t snapped at the hubby.

When we do make it through the day and lay our head on the pillow, do we sleep? Nope! We run the days events through our head countless times, second guessing every snack we served and every time out we gave.

 

 

Feeling like they have lost themselves:

The moment you have that baby, every ounce of focus is around that tiny human. We become “moms” and that is how society views us- that is how our family sees us, and how we identify as people. We are now moms. However, we are still us. We did not cut that part out when we got stitched back up in that hospital room. We are the same person we were before, we will now just be covered in a layer of vomit and have coffee flowing through our veins.

Moms can, at time, feel like they have lost themselves in motherhood. Slowly we give up tiny pieces of ourselves, until there is just this shell left. Little things at a time. Like skipping hair appointments due to the lack of a baby sitter, canceling the gym membership to cover the cost of diapers, yoga pants now become daily outfits, and not wear makeup because why bother. Little things we once enjoyed on a weekly basis, like girl’s night out and date nights, get to be a lot less frequent.

We just cut away little pieces of ourselves as we put everyone else in our life as a priority.

 

It’s hard at times to love your husband:

Marriage after kids is hard work! Everything changes after you bring that baby home. You still love your husband but at times it can be harder. When your awake in the middle of the night nursing and you’re starring at your husband sleeping soundly next to you with his useless nipples, it can be hard to love him. When those kids cry out your name in the middle of the night and not his. When he leaves for work to be with adults and you hear the theme song to Paw Patrol for the millionth time in the background- it can be hard to love him. Yeah, it’s those moments that make it hard to love him.

Having young kids put a lot of stress on a marriage, there is less time to spend together and every focus is around the kids. However, the good news is that it will pass. Things will get better.

 

Moms never have time for themselves:

It doesn’t matter if it’s a quick trip to the bathroom for a potty break or a trip to the dentist, I guarantee a mom will have her kids in tow. We are truly never alone or “off the clock”. Day or night, we are there for our family when they need us.

When we do have a few moments, a moment without questions and little hands pulling on our pant leg, we are too tired to do anything for ourselves, like shower or watch TV, we just crash!

 

BONUS- No one listens:

It doesn’t matter if it’s the dog who won’t come when you call. Your husband who asks for the millionth time which day is your sister’s party and what is the garage code. Or your children who don’t seem to understand that its not snack time, it’s time for bed.

Some days, no one listens.

Moms don’t feel heard, EVER. They are constantly repeating themselves. They are trying to communicate with these tiny humans who don’t seem to understand that take your shoes off, means take your shoes off –NOT make a lap around the clean floors with your muddy boots. Husbands get distracted and require more reminding making it even more exhausting.

The biggest part of not feeling heard—  those words “I need more help!” The lack of understanding that this means, just step up and make dinner.  If you see loose socks on the floor pick them up, you pick up your mother’s birthday gift this year. It simply means take something off my plate, however it’s so hard for others to understand that.