Five Favorite Things About Being a Mom

Being a mom is wonderful, brings meaning to my life, is deeply fulfilling, and in the much-quoted words of Natalie Portman, is "the greatest role."

It’s also complicated and tough and messy. 

Which is why it's important to keep top of mind all the joy of momming it up!

Here are my Top 5:

1: Unconditional love and mutual adoration have become a ho-hum, everyday, constant part of my life. I smother people with kisses and hugs and am smothered in return. While the kids are still young, saying “I love you” all day is never annoying or icky. I vividly remember single and childless years of loneliness and unrequited love, weeks without a nice long hug. Now I am bamboozled for snuggles 24-7 and find myself screeching, “Get off me!” It’s pretty easy to get used to being adored.

2: Reading books and playing games aren’t simply diversions, they’re job requirements. Much like the lovin’, reading and goofing off were what I craved for years amongst the stifling pace of career. Now I play with my kids so much that I sometimes want to skip out on the Lincoln Logs or Dr. Seuss and work.

3: Kids are living Walden Ponds of nature love. Growing up in the Southern California desert, the only wildlife I paid attention to were our golden retriever and the black widows lurking in the corners of the garage. But having inquisitive kids in the beautiful seasons of the D.C. area has taught me to spend as much time outdoors as possible, to walk everywhere we can, to be fascinated by the inhabitants of the creek and woods. The kids and I will spend 20 silent minutes watching a heron. We record all the birds that visit our backyard. I’ve posted photos on Twitter of albino deer and squirrels. (There’s even talk that they’re going to get me to camp this summer, but I’ll believe that when I see it.)

4: The children’s energy and desires for discovery have transformed me from hermit to explorer. I used to be content to just stay home. Since becoming a mom to Charlie and Eve and deciding to parent them in a facetime-intensive fashion, I’ve become so energized about finding fun things to do outside the home that I, oh, started a whole website! It’s even tough to call myself a stay-at-home-mom because now that the kids don’t nap, we’re rarely home. The kids’ desires for new experiences and joy when we would find something completely new and exciting is how all my mom blogging at A Parent in Silver Spring began.

5: Being a mom means that there is worth and meaning and greatness in every task. Marriage and motherhood are my vocations. This is what I was created to do. A feeling of extreme gratitude for my husband and kids and that I get to live this life permeates everything in my world. It brings a peace I never thought possible. (OK, I’m not Mother Teresa. I freak out and get depressed and I don’t hum Ave Maria while I scrub little boy pee puddles from ’round the toilet…sometimes it’s old school hip hop.)

And I'd post some more reasons why I love being a mother, but those toilets aren't going to scrub themselves.

Jessica McFadden is a mom of three kids who writes for families at A Parent in Silver Spring.