In the quiet evening hours, when I have a few moments alone long enough for thinking, I usually find myself wondering, “Did I do a good job today?”

Sometimes, I get a serious case of “mom guilt”. It’s easy to be hard on yourself when you’re doing the biggest, most important job of your life.

As I mentally run through the day, I can recall several situations that might not have been ideal:

My toddler wet her pants more times that I could count.
Maybe I wasn’t as calm as I would have liked to be about said pants-wetting.
I’m not always sure what to say (or how to say it) so that I’m building my child up instead of tearing her down.
I’ve called waffles “dinner” more times in a week than I’d like to admit.
The baby sat in her seat longer than I’d like instead of being cuddled or getting some exercise on the floor.
Did Kaya eat enough vegetables today? (or sometimes more realistically… did she eat any vegetables today?)
Did we enjoy and real quality time together? The minutes pass me by so quickly and I worry I’m not enjoying my babies enough.

And just when I start worrying about all these things, Kaya reaches out to hold my hand. She asks to sit on my lap, and stays there for a while.

She still loves me, despite all my mistakes. I’m doing better at this whole motherhood thing than I tend to think I am.

Chances are, you are too.(Kaya took this picture without me knowing, and I love it, because it’s so real. A kiss from me to a happy baby, completely unposed.)