Motherhood....

The other day I was crying because Motherhood has officially gotten hard. (And I know, it only gets harder, but bear with me, I'm new at this!) My sweet little boy who used to only want to be with Mommy and give hugs and kisses is now a punk. He loves to scream, his favorite word is "NO!" Everything is "Mine!" and he is just plain ol' stubborn (but that's might just be a Ricks' trait, haha). The other day I was visiting teaching, and the girl I teach was telling me about her "Monster Nephew" and compared him to Grayson. I was Mortified and embarrassed and felt like a complete failure. Being a stay at home Mom or SAHM (thanks for the acronym, Em) can feel pretty dissatisfying, stressful, and miserable sometimes.

(For the record, I truly do love being a SAHM, but for this blog, the focus won't be about that!)

Well, I laughed because about a day after I finally laid out all my frustrations to my hubby, a close friend wrote a blog about basically the same thing. And then today, another close friend wrote THE SAME EXACT thing. All of our kids are about the same age, so obviously it's not our parenting that is the problem... it's just a horrifically common stage that all kids go through, even if we feel it's all our fault.

To my friends (you know who you are), I just wanted to say, that something which gives me peace and perspective about our situation is to not only read the scriptures every day, but to read talks and articles from church leaders about the importance of family. It doesn't make the day easier (well, sometimes it does) but it helps remind me that it's all worth it.

I was reading this month's issue of the Ensign (that would be a magazine published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and two quotes stood out to me, since I've been thinking about this topic all day...

"Not only has the Savior suffered, but so have most of the prophets and other great men and women recorded in the scriptures. The point is this: if you are having a bad day, you've got a lot of good company- very, very good company." -Jeffrey R. Holland (Lessons from Liberty Prison)

And...

"Don't feel guilty or dwell on thoughts of failure. Don't compare yourself to others. Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (The Influence of Righteous Women, Sept. 09)

I know that we are all doing the best that we can... so Keep the faith and we've been promised miracles! Even though, right now a miracle might be just making it through the day!