True Confessions of Marianne

1. I don’t brush my kids’ teeth every single night

2. I will give in and give them a lollipop at 10 am on Saturday morning if they will please please stop whining

3. On days they get a lollipop at 10 am I DO brush their teeth

4. Some nights I turn on Tom & Jerry and tell them I’m going to go into the kitchen to cook dinner but I really make mac&cheese and give myself a few minutes alone in the kitchen. A fat glass of wine is usually included on these quiet kitchen times

5. I pack lunch for myself every single day and rarely buy myself anything so I can hire a cleaning woman every 2 weeks

6. I never scrub the floor or the toilet or the bathroom counters (see point 5)

7. I do make my own bread and I do keep the children high-fructose-corn-syrup free

8. I stay up way too late most nights so I have me time and then am a grump to the kids in the morning

9. I waited all my life to have 2 beautiful kids (i’m in my 40s) but often think about bedtime as soon as I wake up

10. I think my children and my experience with motherhood is unique (I know it’s a universal truth)

Tags: TrueConfessions, motherhood, getborn

True Confessions of Teresa Soltis

1. I turn the radio up in the car really loud so I don’t have to hear my kids talk.

2. I tell my kids I have homework so I can sit at the computer and eat my dinner.

3. I havn’t mopped my kitchen for over a month

4. I tell my kids food is spicy just so I don’t have to share.

5. I make brownies, give the kids one, and eat the rest of the pan myself.

6. Some times I get the girls out of bed and bring them to mine so I don’t have to sleep alone.

7. I give in to whining.

8. I fantasize about life without children, even though there is no way I would give them up.

9. I don’t remember the last time I paid a bill by the due date.

10. I have left dishwater sitting in the sink for atleast one full day.

Tags: TrueConfessions, motherhood, getborn

True Confessions of Kira Nelson

1. I really would rather stay in bed and read than get up at 5:30 to feed my kids cold cereal.

2. I have raised whiny selfish kids, but I think they are happy.

3.Motherhood is the biggest kept secret in the world and if we all knew what it was really like well that pretty much says it.

4.My husband works hard at his his job , but hardly works at home

5. Does cereal count as dinner?

6. I would love to travel Europe again, by myself.

7.Who are we doing this for?

8. being a stay at home mom is the hardest thing i have ever done in my life!

9. I am a slacker mom, and i am OK with it

10.I love my kids with all of my heart and soul, but damn this is hard!

Tags: TrueConfessions, motherhood, getborn

True Confessions of Kyndra Wilson, Colorado Springs, CO

• We almost always eat dinner in front of the TV.

• My husband is the one that gets up with my daughter at night. On the rare nights when I actually wake up to hear her crying, I sometimes pretend to be asleep. I justify this by telling myself that I’m waiting to see if she’ll cry it out or just go back to sleep.

• I dislike taking my daughter to the park because it means I have to “play” with her on the jungle gym set. I’m really looking forward to when she’s old enough to play on her own so I can do my own thing on a park bench.

• When she’s fussy, I often tell her to “pull herself together” or “collect herself.”

• We let her watch WAY more TV than I was allowed to watch as a kid and more than I’d ever planned. Many of her imaginary games are now a takeoff of something she saw on Dora the Explorer. I’d read about this before I had kids and considered getting rid of the TV when I got pregnant. Recently, I’ve been justifying this by telling myself that she watches it in spurts and therefore that it follows her energy level throughout the day (low energy = TV and then she revives and does something else). I also tell myself that TV won’t hold the same allure it did for me as a child because it wasn’t forbidden.

• I’m not sure I need another kid. I don’t want my daughter to be an only child, but I feel no real desire to get pregnant again. This is not a commentary on how much I like or love my girl. [I say that because because my husband, who wants another kid, typically follows up my concern with “But Jordan is so great!” which makes me feel like he/people will think that in some way I’m disappointed in her. I’m not. I’m just not dying to do it again.

• I have become much more of an introvert since having my daughter…or rather, I’m surprised at how much time I need to spend inside my own head and how irritated I get when my little reveries are interrupted.

• As I type this, my daughter is, at this moment alone in the bathroom in the bathtub across the hall from my office. I often work in my office or elsewhere upstairs while she’s in the bath and check on her rather than staying in the bathroom the whole time. If she’s having fun, I just keep adding warm water so she can play in there longer.

• She hasn’t yet been to the dentist and we are pretty lax about her dental care. I make an effort to get her teeth brushed once a day but when she does it herself (and she’s been insisting recently), I know it’s not being done really well. I sometimes see a line of goo around her gum-line. Am I motivated to do something about it? Sometimes.

• When my husband and I negotiate the conditions of who will care for her, I often find myself referring to it as it “dealing with” or “managing” her. I almost never use the terms “caring for,” “parenting,” “watching,” etc. I feel bad about how detached and almost derisive that the terms sound, but they are what naturally come out of my mouth.

Tags: TrueConfessions, motherhood, getborn

Top Ten True Confessions

We want your true confessions!
Every mom needs to know she’s not the only one who tells her kid to wipe his boogers on his jeans when she’s fresh out of Kleenex. It’s your turn to air the dirty laundry you’re often too ashamed to speak about, but, true to get born style, we think your truth will liberate you and others.

Post your own top ten here!

Momentarily: Editor’s note, Fall 2007

I have one question for today. Are the moments enough?

Driving in a rare moment by myself, I exult in the beauty of our hometown lake and the feel of the icy wind through my hair as all the windows are gloriously rolled down, free from their rigid duty of protecting little ones from the cold. My mind soars as I achieve the place of one complete thought, uninterrupted. The beauty of this vista fills me with a welling in my soul, and this unbidden thought springs forth: are the moments enough?

In the chaos and constant motion of my mommy life, very little time exists for extended swims in the ocean of my spirit. Rather, I find myself having to settle for small toe dips, just enough for me to know that the water is still there. My spirit cries out to connect with my God, to have moments that transcend the very earthy tedium of everyday. Sometimes they come, taking my breath away with their glory. The power of a well-placed call to a friend in pain, or the awareness of the preciousness that my little ones’ smiles bring. The fleeting moments of intimacy I share with my husband while the life we have gallops by. Each of these freezes my world for just a moment and I catch a glimpse of heaven. How my soul sings. Really. I can smile without compulsion. I can lift my head up and breathe the air as though it’s more than a simple reflex. I feel alive. So my question once again arises. Are these moments enough? Are the glimpses that I have into the vast universe from my small square of earth enough to connect me to an immortal God? Perhaps the question is answered in the asking, for it occurs to me that lives are made up of many moments, and my few moments weave into the grand vista of my life. Sara Baird, the talented photographer whose photo graces our cover this month, captures so beautifully the juxtaposition I often feel being a mother in my chaotic world. Often, any little minute to reflect and get present must be seized from the teeth of time or wrestled from sticky hands clutching at my dirty sweat pants.

In the pages of get born this month, “enough” rings as a resonant theme throughout. As mothers we often worry whether our brains will be sharp enough to hold onto memories too precious to be forgotten, whether our bodies will sustain the motherhood marathon starting with birth or adoption, sprinting through the school years, weathering sleepless nights stretched from infancy to Prom Night, and then joyously cradling grandbabies. We question, deeply and often, whether our raw emotions will buttress us when we say goodbye to our babies, whether in delight at the first day of school or college, or through tears when we realize they’re not going to call our home their home again. Perhaps most frightening of all, we worry that we will fail our children by letting go, saying no, or confronting the uncomfortable truth of our own humanity.

I’ll close with this: may you know deeply that you are enough for your children, regardless of their or your age. May the few fleeting moments that stick to the walls of your memory like pictures hanging on the fridge remind you that your presence alone is sufficient. May our collective cry rise up against so many unreasonable expectations and give strength to our tired bones, granting each of us strength and the unwavering belief that, indeed, we are enough.
Heather Janssen