Every Mom Blog Says the Same Thing

In my quick lunchtime perusal of the mom-blogosphere, I skimmed a post lifting up working moms and another saluting stay-at-home moms. There was an ode to breastfeeding and a defense of formula. A post promising summertime structure and one vowing to throw it out the window.

And you know what? Despite the conflicting headlines, they all said the same things.

They said we’re laser-focused on keeping our tiny humans healthy and happy. Whether it means the applesauce they’re slurping came from a fresh, homemade batch from a sunny organic orchard or from an expired-yesterday pouch hiding in the bottom of a diaper bag – we’re doing what we think is best for our kids, every waking (and sleeping) moment.

They said we’re always trying to make things better – to make meals quicker and healthier, to keep our houses cleaner, to finally organize the junk drawer. We want to look better and feel better, whether it means resolving to wear makeup again or tossing it out the window, expand the ol’ yoga pants wardrobe or just let go of everything without an elastic waistband.

They said we’re endlessly chasing balance. We’re questioning whether to stay home with our kids or go back to work and fighting the battles that come with each decision. We’re looking for just a few extra minutes for our kids, our partners, ourselves – weighing what we trade for them.

They said we’re still figuring out what becoming mothers has done to us and for us. We reminisce about the women we were before motherhood, revel in the women it’s made us and scratch our heads about where the two overlap.

The mom blogs? Under the pretty headers, they’re all the same.

Our paths through mamahood are all different, with twists and turns and bumps and roadblocks and downhill stretches with the wind at our backs. But the thoughts that rattle around our heads when we’re up at 3 a.m. rocking a sick toddler? Those are the same, too – the wellbeing of the strange and wonderful little creatures we guide through this world. The ways we’ve rearranged our lives and selves to make room for them. The ways they’ve changed us and the ways they haven’t. And the tribe of mamas — as different as we are — who have gone before us, the ones in the trenches alongside us and those who will someday go on this adventure, too.