For the last two weeks I have been participating in Blogging 101, courtesy of WordPress. The Day 9 assignment is to write a new blog post, inspired by a fellow blogger. MumMuddlingThrough is one I discovered through the Blogging 101 Community Board and have since started following. She was inspired to consider who she is as a “Mum” and write her new post based on another blogger’s introspective post “I Am The Mum Who…”

This has, in turn, inspired me to reflect on what kind of “Mum” (or “Mom” for those of us west of the Atlantic) I am as well, so here it goes:

I am the mom who…

• Spent two and a half years completely devoted to her graduate program and finished at the top of her class, only to surprise herself (and probably all of her classmates) when she had a baby and realized what she really wanted out of life was to be a stay-at-home-mom.
• Has gotten up early to run every week day for nearly thirteen years, but only last year ran in her first race with a bunch of mom friends as “The Escaped Moms Club.”
• Can’t stand to listen to the “toddler” radio stations for more than a few songs and must consciously not roll her eyes or groan when her four year-old asks to listen to Rocknoceros in the car.
• Tries to keep the Pandora or Amazon Prime stations on classical, Frank Sinatra, Dave Matthews or popular country (but skipping the ridiculous abundance of drinking songs) and is grateful the four year-old is usually totally content with one of those.
• Runs a small business teaching CPR and first aid because she thinks they are some of the most important skills for health care providers and non-health care providers alike to learn.
• Endeavors to complete a novel and publish it so set a general deadline for draft one completion by the end of the summer.
• Has spent the last seventeen years working hard to change bad habits learned in her first eighteen years that resulted in unhealthy relationships.
• Tries to be attentive every day to the way she speaks and interacts with her son and husband so as to not pass on those bad habits.
• Texts begrudgingly and wishes you would just call if you have more than one sentence of stuff to say.
• Is grateful that she now gets to wake her son every morning, even on the days when he’s a total grump.
• Loves to cook and was given a fantastic cookbook before baby number one for homemade baby food that is getting some limelight on the blog.
• Loves to enjoy a cup (or two) of coffee in the morning and a glass of wine in the evening.
• Strives to organize her house and days, but is slowly accepting of the chaos that creeps in with a house full of cats, dogs, and boys.
• Feels incredibly grateful to have a network of mom friends with similar aged kids for play dates and Escaped Mom Club events.
• Knows she is blessed to have loving and supportive in-laws who moved close just to be around their grandkid(s).
• Also knows she is blessed that her own family is supportive and loving.
• Married her best friend, a man who is the best partner in friendship, marriage and parenting for whom a woman could wish. Not perfect, but perfect for her.
• Adores the sweetness in her son and his vivid imagination. And hates more than anything when she has to say no to something that makes him cry.
• Loves to play with trains and Legos but is learning to seriously dislike Play-Doh.
• Reads to her son every day and eagerly awaits the days when the books are long and picture-free, because she remembers reading books like the Narnia series with her parents every night before bed.
• Tries not to stick her foot in her mouth too much and fails… a lot. But is learning to be more graceful about apologizing and extricating said foot.
• Hopes to teach her kids good life skills and put them on paths to being healthy, productive and considerate adults.
• Is sure there are more things but wants to enjoy some adult time with the hubby, so is ending here.

How about you? How would you complete the sentence “I am the mom (mum) who…?”

Happy trails!