Moms Confess on TODAYMoms

Read the article on the link below that I came across this morning: “What’s your deepest, darkest secret? Moms confess in our survey.”

Now, I am not saying that I am a perfect mom but believing that you can give Ice Cream to your kid for breakfast is just plain stupid!

Being a mother is all about infinite sleepless nights, your workload being multiplied by 10, having barely enough time for yourself, cutting your time with your husband in four, forgetting about those last minute plans, having to actually plan a vacation or a weekend out, having to recreate your circle for friends…

So of course being a mother is overwhelming…but what in the hell did you expect???

If you are not ready for all of this…you should get fish! He does not require affection, you just need to feed it once a day and its life expectancy is a few months.

Now, don’t get me wrong, being a mom is hard and you face challenging days every day.

You will cry; you will want to shake that baby until he stops crying; you will probably ask yourself what happened to your life; you will or will think of giving him drowsy medicine to sleep on the plane; you will let him cry in bed so you can have 15 more minutes of sleep; you will put him in front of the TV for an hour so you don’t have to take care of him; you will have him sleep without giving him a bath because you just don’t feel like it…You will think that you are not a good parent…

…But that is what a parent is. He is human with feelings and emotions.

No one told us that it would be that hard. I mean, we don’t remember that our parents complained that much and we turned out just fine…I guess is that at the end, they probably forgot all those hard times…or maybe all the joy and the beauty of being a parent is greater than all of that. Seeing that baby grow to become and independent person is magical.

…We just need to make sure that we do the best we can for him to become the person we wish him to be. 

What's your deepest, darkest secret? Moms confess in our survey

My baby is 1

Today Noah turned one. In his honor, I decided to write again.

Being a mother has been a wonderful adventure for me so I thought that I should share my stories with you.

This year past by fast; yet, it seems so far away that I was holding a helpless little baby that could fit almost in my hand.

It is still hard for me to forget that day at St David’s hospital when I was enduring atrocious pain. I still remember the pain I felt every 4 minutes for every contraction. I was asking myself I could something so beautiful and natural could be the cause of so much pain. I wished at that time that I was better prepared for this. But I guess you never can fully be ready. I thought to myself that there is no way that I could go through this again. But at the sight of this beautiful baby…how could I not.

The first week and the first months were hard.

Never, ever listen to anyone telling you that you’ll know what to do when you see your baby. No matter what they say…you will NOT know what to do. That is why a elder is often necessary to past down the traditions and the way to care for your baby.

I decided that I was going to breastfeed for 6 months at least…I realized the first few days that I was probably going to fail miserably. Breastfeeding is quite uncomfortable…aside from the fact that you are a complete slave to this little being who wants to feed every second of the day; you don’t feel that your body is your own anymore. You barely have time to eat, sleep or shower.

We were in Texas with my mom, dad, brother, sister in law, cousin Philippe and good friends. We had a wonderful time and the lack of sleep and the other side effects of being mother passed by smoothly. We had a wonderful time with Noah and discovering our son.

Many times we had to leave the Vacuum cleaner on for hours when we realized that it made him sleep.

After a month, we went back to Cote d’Ivoire and Aimann and I had to take care of this precious baby ourselves. It was not always easy but we slowly understood each other and we were able to form strong bonds and a happy family.

Today our baby is one.

He walks, he has 8 teeth, he loves dancing and listening to music, he loves animals and the sound them make, he loves discovering new things, his first word was bye bye. He is a very happy baby. In one year he has left the US to Ivory Cost, traveled to France then Haiti and even visited Morocco. I have no doubt that he will be a world traveler.

Today, I held him tight to me and I cried. I cried because he has blessed me with so many things and I am so grateful for who he is and the happiness that he brings to my life.

I take a moment of silence, for all the parents who will not be celebrating their child’s birthday.