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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

A Cape Away from Being a SuperMom

The last month has been Über-busy.  My husband has been traveling, family visiting, birthday parties, Easter dinner, playdates and the list goes on.  But in the midst of the business... I realized that we were not all that busy... just average busy.

It's me that's busy.  A busy body.  A mama.  A busy mama.  Rockin' it out.  Rockstar status. Superstar.  SuperMom.  (Do you like how my train of thought got me to the last title?  Exactly.)

That's right... I am acknowledging the fact that I am a SuperMom.  (And I am making this one word on purpose because Superman is one word and spell check doesn't fight me at all... and all he ever did was turn into a dude in a cool outfit that could fly and rescue the damsel in distress.  "Super"man wouldn't survive one day at home with the kids. So I'll deal with the spell check underlining my new word.)

(Reading to his fwwwends)

I came to this realization today... that I am a SuperMom... right after I picked up a dirty diaper between two toes and opened the garbage can lid by stepping on the pedal with the other foot and threw the diaper away... with my toes... while feeding a baby a bottle in my arms.   Oh, and I was on the phone.  I couldn't help but compare myself to Angelina Jolie in Mr. & Mr. Smith as she would scale a building and dust her curtains on her tippy tippy toes all in the same half hour... That was so me.

And then I realized it again when I made Clay's day by taking him and Lilah on an escalator ride.  And it was a ride because I parked the stroller next to the escalator in the swanky new food court at the upscale mall in town and carefully balanced Lilah in my arms while I bent over and picked up Clay.  I carried each child in one arm and steadied my clumsy-self on that dang escalator.  We went up.  And we went down.  And I even saw some people pointing at us... which pretty much just confirms that they had just witnessed super hero stuff-- I'm sure of it.

(Out for a drive)

And a temper tantrum later when Clay realized there was just going to be one escalator ride and the result left him on the floor flailing his arms and legs... and I felt my SuperMom status begin to wear off, we gather ourselves and make our way out to the car where in the midst of his cries he sneezes and lands that sneeze right in the nape of my neck creating a zerbert sound causing me to jump right out of my skin-- we both lost it and laughed so hard.  And I felt my SuperMom cape on my back once more.

(Clay's self-portrait)

And you know... I have this thought often.  "I'm nailin' it.  I've got this.  ON.  IT."  And as a mama, these moments feel good.  Actually, great.  Because we all have moments when we feel like "I'm losing it. What in the world? And, I don't have this."  But we put on that cape and rise to the occasion no matter what the occasion may be and even in those persnickety moments where we doubt ourselves.  Because we are all SuperMoms... in our own special way.

And so, with my head held high... Ima takin' that title and Ima gonna to keep rockin' it out- SuperMom style.  So while I wait for my real SuperMom cape to show up on my doorstep (just to make it official) and for spell check to recognize this sure-to-be word, I'll join all the other mamas out there silently tearin' it up each day and relish in my new title.

And in case I needed just one more reminder... when I tiptoed into Lilah's room just now to feed her and I turned on the lamp just to peer at her face for another fifteen minutes before my day would come to and end, she slowly opened her eyes and looked all around the room.  Then at me.  She waited til her eyes adjusted just guzzling her bottle in the meantime.  And there it was.  A huge smile of recognition, of comfort, of love spread across her face.  You see, I may or may not be a SuperMom... but to her I'm just that... super.  And that's enough.