“We were dressed semi-the same. Yesterday’s smeared makeup, leggings and a 2-minute messy bun. I watched you grab your items, round up the kids, and walk out of the store relieved it was finally over. As I awaited our turn in line, I looked down at my arguing boys tugging at each other, causing a scene. I sipped on my half-melted Starbucks drink, put my dry shampoo and concealer on the counter, and smiled.”
‘I wish I could sugar coat it. I watched your $7 iced coffee melt while you settled the score of sibling rivalry.’: Mom says, ‘what we do as moms is not for the faint of heart’
‘If I knew what life had in store, I wouldn’t have spent 4 years with my ex-husband.’: Woman describes grief after fiancé’s sudden death, ‘Being with him was like finally getting a breath of fresh air’
“I beg every god I have ever heard of for this to all be a dream. I beg to forget coming home from work and finding the love of my life, lifeless on our couch. I wish I knew what life had in store. I would’ve done everything in my power to spend more time with him. I may not know where my life will go from here, but I do know I am not alone.”
‘Smoking when you have cancer? Are you insane? You might as well jump in front of a train!’ My first time going outside as a baldie was horrible.’: Woman with alopecia advocates for hair loss, ‘I am beautiful, with or without hair’
“I was known for my beautiful hair. It was one of my biggest ‘selling points.’ One day, I woke up and my hair started to fall out. ‘When you are almost bald, please come back and we will look at it again.’ Five days later, I was back. I went from having really beautiful hair to being a baldie with a wig.”
‘At 10 months old, he weighed over 35 pounds. I began keeping food logs. ‘Does this justify the weight gain?’: Mom births baby with obesity disorder, autism
“Immediately after birth, he began growing rapidly. He grew almost 3 inches and 8 pounds in 7 weeks. We were told Joshua’s condition is ‘without a doubt rare and genetic.’ Everywhere we went, people stared. Josh just wants to be everyone’s friend.”
‘I look around and mothers are wilting. Marriages are filled with resentment, longing. Moments with our children are hurried and empty.’: Woman explains mental health through gardening
“My husband is a man with a need to accomplish a list. You can throw all the yoga, hot tea, sex, and time together you can dream up his way, but if he’s not daily accomplishing something on that list, he will feel stagnant and unfulfilled. Me? I probably had a list, but I lost it somewhere.”
‘The email subject read, ‘The Preschoolers Hibernated Today.’ How cute, I thought. Until I realized it was a lockdown drill.’: Mom says ‘it’s brave to parent in this crazy world we live in’
“The lockdown was made into a game. Our kids had to practice what they would do if a person entered the school and started shooting at them. It will never stop breaking my heart.”
‘I Found Baby Rainn And She’s Alive’: 2-Year-Old Girl Who Vanished From Home Without A Trace Found Sleeping In Field
In October 2016, 2-year-old Rainn Peterson vanished from her great-grandparents’ home in Ohio. After a tireless weekend-long search, a volunteer discovered Rainn sleeping in a field, alive and well.
‘I’m sorry, you have the wrong number.’ ‘Mom, no, stop joking, it’s not funny.’ Click. The phone hangs up. I felt like I lost my mom when she was still here.’: Woman says she has found her mom ‘in so many ways over the years’
“Trying to figure out how to be around your own mom that only remembers you sometimes changes you.”
‘Laura can do it, she’s home every day.’ I was told how hard my husband must have it. They didn’t tell me about the frustrations, the anger.’: Mom tells other stay-at-home moms ‘you are not alone’
“When I had my son, people were asking me, ‘When do you plan to go back to work?’ When I told them I had no plans to immediately go back, I would constantly be told how lucky I am. Then when I had my daughter, I was asked again. I was told I should be so appreciative.”
‘Our waitress says, ‘Your bill is already covered.’ Who would pay for a family with a whining baby?’: Mom ‘astounded’ by strangers’ Valentine’s Day act of kindness
“Thank you for restoring my faith in humanity.”
‘We have our stomachs cut open before us. We spend weeks recovering while still caring for a totally dependent new life, bringing joy to the world.’: Mom says you are ‘powerful, strong, and brave’
“We somehow survive on minimal sleep, and just when we reach the point where we think we can’t give any more, we do. We are teachers, healers, therapists, safe places, comforters, givers, lovers, and friends.”
‘Invite me into your mess, and I’ll invite you into mine. The messy times? That’s where the real stuff is made.’: Woman claims ‘sisterhood cannot be built on the good times alone’
“Don’t think for one second that you’ll be judged by me. Because can I let you in on a little secret? You allowing me into your mess allows me to be more comfortable sharing mine. The messy times? That’s where the real stuff is made.”
‘I’m a sucky wife some days. He gets the leftovers, life gets the main dish. Most nights, I’m asleep before he even graces the bedroom.’: Woman ‘thankful’ for husband who ‘doesn’t ask more of me than he knows I can give this season’
“I don’t have that same twinkle in my eye. I can no longer give him my full attention like I used to. My energy goes into playing hot wheels and throwing together loads of laundry. We share half-hearted conversations as we each scroll through stupid Facebook videos at the end of a long day. I pour so much of myself into every area of my life that my husband often gets the drips of what is left. It’s not fair. But I’m thankful.”
Top 10 Reasons For Mom Burnout
“We are expected to work like we don’t have children and raise children like we don’t have careers.”
‘He was born looking like he’d been in a boxing match. His face was bruised, but no one seemed very concerned about it.’: Baby is born with microcephaly, ‘I truly see Grayson as the blessing he is’
“They have been unable to find a reason why this happened. I didn’t go out of the country while pregnant, I wasn’t exposed to Zika. He didn’t have a stroke in utero, and there is no gene to blame. We had no idea there was anything wrong before he was born. His whole life has been an emotional whirlwind. I wouldn’t have chosen this for him or for us, but I wouldn’t change it either.”
‘We placed my son in the back of a black SUV and said goodbye. I lost all hope. Just before I drank myself to death, I found out I was pregnant.’: Mom’s harrowing journey to recovery, ‘It’s up to you to break the cycle’
“Right after I turned 15, I met the absolute love of my life. Apparently, we were never really exclusive. In the summer going into my senior year, I got pregnant. I learned alcohol numbed the pain. After my daughter’s father left without telling me, I started partying more. He had no more fight in him. Days after his 4th birthday, we brought him home on hospice care.”
‘How was your trip?’ It broke my heart. Their schoolhouse was an open room separated by wooden dividers. The roof leaked every time it rained.’: Woman’s trip to Liberia was ‘eye-opening’ and ‘enlightening’
“This was the tough part for me. Thinking back to how I grew up, and seeing how drastically different it was from them, broke my heart. As a kid, I remember asking for updated decor for my room or a new, more comfortable bed to sleep in, and my parents working their butts off to make it a reality for me. But these kids didn’t have that.”
It’s Hard To Find The Balance As A Mother—There’s Only So Much Of Me
“I don’t even recognize myself. I look tired. I look like I’ve let myself go. I look angry. I look really rushed. I know I’m a good mom. I don’t doubt myself in that department. But I also feel like all I am is a mom sometimes.”
‘I’m positive you’re depressed, and that’s just from this one conversation.’ I froze inside.’: College student shocked by depression diagnosis, ‘It’s good to know people aren’t supposed to operate like this.’
“My family is very against medicine and doctors. My parents still don’t know I went to the doctor, or that I attend therapy regularly now. I don’t know what they would do, honestly. It’s ridiculous I need to hide going to the doctor, especially when it’s for my brain. My roommate was sharing how she couldn’t get out of bed. ‘It’s like someone placed you into a blank room, with no furniture or door or windows, and they expect you to thrive in it.’ It all clicked.”
‘This baby is nothing but a miracle.’ I had no fallopian tubes. They were literally GONE.’: Woman with missing reproductive parts pregnant with ‘miracle baby’
“My obstetrician had to do another ultrasound just to see it with his own eyes.”
Anti-Vax Group Told Mom Not To Give Her Child Tamiflu, He Died 4 Days Later
“When group members told her to treat the symptoms with everything from breastmilk to thyme, to elderberry, to sliced potatoes; the mom agreed.”
‘She kept her pain to herself, always putting on a brave face. Mom was always standing tall.’: Woman remembers mother’s sacrifice and love for her family thanks to StoryWorth
“When the news of divorce was trickling through the household, I came back from a long bike ride to find Mom talking with Dad, her eyes swollen and red from crying hard. She saw me, brightened, and cheerfully asked me all about my adventure that day — hiding her heartache for my sake.”
‘Now, you can have a portable corgi butt to stare at all day long and it gives your phone a nice cushion in case you drop it.’: Here are our top picks for everyone on your Valentine’s Day list
“We’ve gone ahead and taken the guesswork out gift buying this year. Here are some of our favorites for every man, woman, and child in your lives that deserve a little love this Valentine’s Day.”
‘It appears your baby did not develop a left forearm or hand.’ My whole body was shaking. It was surreal.’: Mom celebrates child born with limb difference, ‘In our eyes, he was perfect’
“Our brief phone call couldn’t have been longer than 5 minutes, yet it changed everything we knew or expected for our future. I had been hoping that they were wrong. Terrified of the unknown, I put off buying anything for our baby. I smiled throughout my baby shower I didn’t even want to attend.”
‘I miss punching out. I miss the thank you’s and ‘you’re doing a great job.’ I miss not having to awkwardly stumble through, ‘What do you do?’: Stay-at-home mom shares candid reality of ‘high stakes’ motherhood
“This work leaks into every part of my life. There’s not a minute that’s safe. It calls in the middle of the night, during hair appointments, and workouts. Vacation doesn’t exist. I miss getting ready. I miss the compliments on my outfit and hair. The hot coffee, and people who got my jokes. When my brain operated well enough to form them. But I know the one thing I’d always miss more than work, are my children.”