Here it is, my first Mother’s Day.  I feel like I’ve gained access to an ultra exclusive club, where the bouncers opened up the velvet ropes just for me (and my Moby Wrap-bundled babe) to skip the line and walk on through.  Sorry, all you non-VIPs, you’ll have to wait..as you can’t possibly know the super-secret password that got the rest of us in the door.  (shhhh! Today’s password is:  “spit-up”)

As I sat here having my morning cup o’ java with my boys (Dante and daddy) and girls (all 4 cats), watching a rerun of Robot Chicken, and juggling a baby on one boob and a pump on the other (uber glamorous mommy behavior), not knowing what to write that was Mother’s Day related, I googled “types of moms” for some inspiration.  I was met with a list of articles that ran the gamut, from “The 5 Types of Moms We All Know”, to “Unique Mother’s Day Gifts for All Types of Moms”, to my personal favorite “8 Types of Moms and the Issues They Gave You” (that one’s worth the read).  I realized none of this was going to narrow down my query.

Reflecting on the types of moms out there that I’ve encountered in my lifetime through friends… the strict mom that doesn’t let her kids do anything they deemed ‘fun’;  the hands-off mom who doesn’t seem to give a crap about what you do and lets you learn the lessons for yourself; the June Cleaver mom who’s always ready to go with a sandwich or brownies when you walk in the door; the cool mom (like my mom) who’s more like  your bud; the crazy mom who thinks she’s still a teenager and embarrasses the heck out of you;  and so on and so forth.

I thought about the type of mom that I am, or would like to be thought of as down the road, and I realized that so early on in the ‘game of mom’ for me, it wasn’t fair to pigeon-hole mothers into one type or another…something that I’ve been doing for so long.  Seeing it from the other side of the coin now, how could I classify someone as the “strict mom” when clearly she just knows the evils of the world and doesn’t want her kids to get hurt?  Or, maybe the “crazy mom” just wants desperately to stay relevant and an important part of her kids’ lives?

So what kind of mom am I? I mean, so far of course… hmmm… I am that mom who tries, sometimes in vain, to decode your cries and give you what you need.  I am that mom who each time she wakes up, first thing, frantically checks that you are breathing.  I am that mom who licks her finger to wipe that smudge of dried milk off your cheek.  I am that mom that celebrates each poopy diaper that you have.  I am that mom who laughs and finds all of your farts completely endearing (and will no doubt embarrass you with stories of them in front of your friends when you’re in high school).

But none of that even begins to describe what kind of mom that I think I’ll become.  I suppose I will be.. the strict- hands-off –June-Cleaver-cool-crazy mom who just wants to see you happy in life.

Happy Mother’s Day to whatever type of mom you are, and aspire to be.