I am a Theta Mom

I was tagged by Heather over at Theta Mom and Erin from The Mother Load to participate in the Theta Mom challenge. According to the lovely Heather, "Theta Moms, The True, Authentic Moms. [The-T-A] are authentic because we live authentic lives. Life isn’t perfect and neither are our kids."

I present to you five reasons why I am worthy of this title.

I suppose that my Theta Mom status started when I was pregnant with my first child. In my naivete I had always romanticized pregnancy. If I saw a woman with a big round belly, I thought that it was beautiful. To me it seemed like such a enviable state of being, to house life and feel a deep connection to womanhood. In reality, I had the worst morning sickness ever, heartburn, acid reflux, and an angry sciatica. With both of my pregnancies I gained a ton of weight. When I was pregnant with my second son the only thing that kept me from throwing up was eating a Chic-fil-a chicken biscuit every morning. I would drag my fat ass out of bed and order this delicious yet fattening breakfast come rain or shine. As I stuffed chicken into my face I realized that I did not feel beautiful. I felt fat and tired and a little bit scared of giving birth. This would be the first of many realizations about the reality of motherhood.

My oldest son Griffin gave me a run for my money when he reached toddler hood. He was one of those exuberant children that had a true lust for life. If he saw another child that he wanted to play with he would pounce on them. Literally, he would dive bomb into them, knock them over, sit on them, and then suck on their head. It was not spiteful or mean spirited but terrifying just the same. I became the mother that was in the sandbox, redirecting my sweet son to not sit on the nearest child. It was humbling and shaking sand out of my panties would be the first of many sacrifices that I would make for my scamp of a kid.

For a while, I fought with all my might to be a true western minded mama. I'm just not ever going to be. I am a co-sleeping, breastfeeding on demand, child wearing, rock em' to sleep, stay up all night snuggling, kind of mama. I am indulgent with hugs and use love and logic to discipline. I give my kid choices and get down on my knees when we communicate so that I am on his level. I don't spank or use fear tactics to parent my kids.

That being said, I will throw a kid in time out if he needs it. I'm not raising a brat over here. I use video games and Yo Gabba Gabba to entertain my kiddo if I need a break. I've been known to bribe my kid with candy. I've even let him have Skittles for breakfast. I let my kid watch Spongebob a bit too much. We stumble over toys and laundry because sometimes I just don't feel like cleaning. My first reaction when frustrated is to shout. I have to work hard everyday not to yell at my 4 year old. I get tired of hearing begging at Walmart and buy my son yet another Hot Wheels for no good reason other than I want to shop in peace. I am not perfect and sometimes I just take the easy route. I'm okay with this fact.

I could ramble on with example after example of my Theta Mom ways but instead I'll let you read them in past posts. Like how my house is covered in my son's artwork, my shaky adjustment to mothering two kids, how crazy my days can get, that I let my son run amok, and enable his addiction to video games.

So, as per the rules, I am tagging these awesome Bloggers to take the Theta Mom challenge.

It ain't easy being cheesy

Speaking from the Crib

The Crazy Baby Mama

Let's Have a Cocktail

Unruly Helpmeet

Team Boo

Is this thing on?
Are you sill there?
This was a long post.
Thanks for sticking around.