The Superpowers of Motherhood.

Posted bycasey coombsPosted inToo lazy to label.

To those of you without children, and to those of you with a newborn.

The day is coming that parenting will become second nature. Hell, it will pretty much become first nature.

Promise.

The memories of leaving a house with a newborn/infant still frighten me. The toys, the nursing pads, the bottles, the burp cloths, the change of clothes, the binkies, the blankets, the nursing cover, the bibs, the spoons, the baby food, the high chair cover, the holycowhowdidIevermakeitpastthisstagewithoutdrinking.

There will come a day (remember I only have one…) that you will switch over to a big girl purse and find that even without that artillery of a diaper bag you are just as prepared for anything a small human can throw at you (or fall in) than you were with it.

Take the pootastrophe on Friday. Cody watched her fall in and just stared with his mouth open grunting “EW EW EW”. I however was taken over, wipes appeared as if from no where (seriously, I had just packed them in my purse that day.) Plastic bags were found. Poo was cleaned off, no help from Cody who hid behind the car making stink faces.

I have seen moms catch balls thrown at their heads without missing a beat in their conversation. I have seen moms clean muddy shorts with nothing more than a sippy cup and a steel fence. I can carry a conversation in the car with the moosh about Pinnocchio and one with Cody about Rodger Clemens at the same time.

Someday the cries of a baby will no longer pull you from your warm bed at night and you will be able to fall asleep without thinking every squeak of a tire outside may be the squeak of a baby trying to wake up. However there will still by cries, cries of sick little kids with fevers or scared little kids with nightmares.

But this time it will be your heart that wakes you up, not your ears.

It will be your heart that will pull you into the other room because the little body lying in that little bed is a piece of your heart walking around on the outside of your body. There will be no referencing of parenting books at one a.m. There will be no googling of Croup symptoms at two a.m.

You will just know.

And you will fix it. Whether it’s a warm compress on little chubby legs suffering from growing pains or a cold washcloth across a sweaty fevered forehead. You will be able to fix it. Because you are the mom. And moms are superheroes.

Even if you never realized it before.

72 thoughts on “The Superpowers of Motherhood.”

  9. This is really pretty. Really good. I worry for the growing pain thing…almost daily…hoping my Joth doesn’t suffer from them as badly as I did. Love you.

    Kims last blog post..Dear Scale:

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  11. It’s amazing what hidden strengths you find – ones you didn’t realize you had – when you’re a mother and this wondrous creature relies on you. Great post!

    Mary Beths last blog post..

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  15. Even though I wouldn’t be afeared of cleaning poo off Jessie or Ben I gotta agree that moms have some other instinct or whatever when it comes to their children.

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  21. Okay-you totally made me cry! I guess because I am still at the frustrated kids need me all the time daddy’s never home so I do it all stage and I am getting burnt out! Thanks for reminding me how precious they are and how being a mom is who we are supposed to be. I love the part about your heart pulling you out of bed because that is so true! Thanks!

    April Barretts last blog post..4-18-08 Strasbourg, France

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  25. Great post, with a very important message: even if parents (OK I’m taking a little liberty and adding gender-inclusive language… sue me) don’t realize it, to their kids they ARE superheroes.

    SciFi Dads last blog post..Daddy-Daughter Time

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  27. Not having siblings and never really being around children growing up, I was scared silly when I had my first baby (now I have 2) But it’s very true…the “you just know” factor kicks in. It’s really powerful and inspiring. I had a fly solo, supermommy weekend… Now the kiddies are asleep, house is quiet. Super Mommy did it again – woo hoo!

    Toast 2 Moms last blog post..Be Nice to the Pregnant Woman, Ignore the Mother

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  28. I have been suffering from INeedABabyRightNow Fever and this post just made it worse. But I think a husband and a job are a necessity before a baby… so I will just wait until its my turn. 🙂

    I hope that I can be that good of a mommy someday.

    Ashleys last blog post..Fireworks, Oh My !

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  30. poop, john mayer, and supermoms, huh?

    All in a day’s work, I hear ya. You just needed to add EXTREME Blood loss from the nose and mouth due to severing of the ‘frenulum’…. Part of my supermom day…

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  35. Oh, yes, I’ve totally got superpowers. I have eyes in the back of my head, I know what they’re going to do before they do it and I can tell when they’re lying. I can swat paper airplanes and bouncy balls, I can sneak up and scare the pants out of them (try it, it’s fun!) and I can run a washing machine, a dishwasher, a video game and give spankings while on the cell phone. hehe I’m the mother of boys.

    Awesome post, Casey, and so true. I love the “little bit of your heart walking around” bit the most. :o)

    Rheas last blog post..Giveaway Winner & Cracker Jack Award

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  37. Can I tell you that the TRULY amazing thing is when life throws a HUGE wrench in your plans (say, like, your kid gets cancer) and you realize that you can’t fix it anymore, you can’t make it all better…but you still find that you are capable of making it all happen. Maybe not as well as you used to, and not as well as you’d like, but as long as those kids never doubt they’re loved and know you’d throw yourself under the bus for them, you’re doing something right!

    Great post, you made me feel a little superhero-ish

    Anissa @ Hope4Peytons last blog post..Why I talk about my kid

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  39. Wow.

    I know I’ve told you this before, but I hope you know I really mean it. You are truthfully one of the best moms I’ve ever known in my life. Someday when I have children of my own you’ll be the example I look to.

    Olivias last blog post..FYI

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  41. Pingback: Feeling the Mommy Love « Happy Are We

  42. Beautifully written, and so so true. I’m not there yet (she’s 15 months old) but every once in a while I catch a glimpse of what that ‘out of the baby stage’ must be like. It’s so different than the early, ‘I have no freaking clue what I’m doing’ stage. heh.

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  44. “. . .carry a conversation in the car with the moosh about Pinnocchio and one with Cody about Rodger Clemens at the same time.”

    Amen. I never could have pictured my brain working like this before I became a mom.

    Fabulous post.

    threeundertwos last blog post..Physics 101

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  45. Knowing all this is the reason I’m willing to try and have another child. My mom thinks I’m crazy for not loving the infant stage but I don’t do change very well.

    I think I should print this out and give it to my cousin at her baby shower. She can pull it out during those middle of the night feedings and screaming marathons and know that one day her super powers will finally show up and save the day.

    T with Honeys last blog post..I’m funny, at least in my own mind

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