It's 10 pm and my baby is finally down for the night (hopefully for a full night, but we'll see how that goes) and I have no motivation to do anything. After Ammon goes down, usually I can get my house clean. Dishes done, random clutter put away, and if I'm really feeling motivated, I'll do a load of laundry.
But some nights, I find myself sitting on my couch, because I'm just too dang exhausted to care about cleaning or homework... or really anything.
Well, since I'm not doing anything physical, I'll probably get on facebook or instagram.
Prior to becoming a mother in mid-July, I never really got into the modern mom trend, mostly because I just didn't know what it was. But after I had my son, I became obsessed with following every other mom out there in my position, either a first time mommy or maybe a couple kids. I didn't even realize how much they influenced me until tonight.
Being a mom is hard enough without all the pressures of social media and how other moms do things. The number one thing I regret about the day my precious son was born was that I didn't get nice hospital pictures. But did I get pictures? Yes! And they may not be professional, but they bring back a memory that I hold very near to my heart. A memory that, frankly, no one else cares about.
And why should they?
They all have their own special memories with their kids.
There is an insane amount of pressure out there to show the beauty in every part of our lives through social media.
There are a couple of women who I follow on Instagram that I just adore/envy at the same time. It may just be me, but every time I see their adorable child in something cute or nifty or just downright awesome, I get this feeling that I have to have all the things they are having and I need to take beautiful pictures so that I can post them.
It's really fun to get a lot of likes.
I love it.
But that's not what my life is about, and I kind of let it become that way for a minute in my life.
I've just had this realization tonight that I don't need all this stuff for my child. He has what he needs, and my family will get by. I think we all get carried away with social media sometimes.
It's nice to hear that you're doing a good job.
So that's what I'm here to say, if not to anyone else, at least myself.
You're doing a great job.
You're a great mom and an awesome wife.
It's fun to share, but it's more important to make memories.
What are you really gonna remember in 10 years?
