What I Love, Hate, and Don’t Mind Doing (Motherhood Version)

I have a love-hate relationship with motherhood, particularly being a full-time stay-at-home mom (SAHM). In case you were curious, here's my feelings divided into 3 lists.

WHAT I HATE DOING

• Meeting competing needs of my 2 kids who are 2.5 years apart (i.e. she loudly wants me to play with her while he needs to quiet down for a nap)
• When they fight me while I’m trying to take care of them (changing diapers, washing their hands, wiping their noses, tending to scrapes/cuts, putting them to bed)
• When they are demanding/distracting/clingy while I’m trying to cook (i.e. clinging to my leg while I’m trying to drain the boiling pot of pasta)
• When they are fickle, especially not eating food I’ve just prepared that they asked for
• When they argue and are illogical, which is maddening
• When they cry and melt down because I won’t give them things they can’t play with (i.e. knives)

WHAT I DON'T MIND DOING

• Changing diapers (except when they wiggle and kick and roll over)
• Giving baths (except when they splash too much and try to climb out)
• Grocery shopping, which I insist on doing alone as a break from the kids
• Chopping/prepping/cooking food (except when they cry and demand to be carried and cling to my legs and stand on my feet)
• Washing, folding, and putting away laundry

WHAT I LOVE

• When they have a big proud smile from accomplishing something new that was entirely impossible to them yesterday
• When they hug me with their whole bodies and drape their head on my shoulder
• When they bubble over with pure laughter 
• When they voluntarily give me a kiss or hug 
• When they learn new words 
• When they make new connections between something new and something they knew 
• When my son grabs a book and scoots backwards into my lap grunting for me to read it
• When my daughter says something so hilarious and clever, I literally LOL, slap my knees, and immediately write it down 
• When they try new foods and love it so much that they demand more
• When my daughter prays for cute and funny things like her stuffed animals 
• When my children play peacefully and happily together 
• When I see my husband playing happily with them
• Making my son giggle when I’m nursing him because he loves playing games with me
• When they find so much joy and laughter in the simplest of pleasures like swimming in piles of clean laundry
• Looking at their beautiful perfect little faces and being in awe that I helped make them and I get the privilege of raising them 
• Witnessing Heavenly Father’s miracles and tender mercies in answer to my desperate prayers for help

I made these lists one day when I felt like I was at the end of my rope (which happens most days) and it was a good perspective adjuster because I was honestly shocked that the list of what I love was much longer than the other 2. I'd been feeling that there's a lot more that I hate so I wrote that list first. Then I thought I shouldn't be so negative and should have a more balanced perspective because I'm the one who suffers from hating my job as a SAHM! It was a good reminder of all the redeeming moments of motherhood.