Did you ever have a day that left you feeling defeated and depleted? That is exactly how I was feeling after a particularly long day of poop filled training pants and repeated time-outs for hitting.  I don’t know about you but I find that poop filled training pants are way messier than diapers. Trying to get them off a wiggling toddler without getting poo all over is not an easy feat. You might be wondering why I find it hard since most training pants have neat little pull tabs, well my son has allergies and sensitive skin so we use the Seventh Generation training pants and they don’t have tabs. Because of that I’ve resorted to cutting them off of him to avoid smearing poo down his legs only to have him step in it. The thing that makes it so frustrating is that he knows that he is supposed to poo in the toilet and has already done so a few times. Not only that but once he does poo in his training pants he is quick to tell me he needs to be changed.

I was ready to throw in the towel and accept that my son would be destined to a life of pooping in his pants when I realized that I needed to take a “time-out” and get some perspective. So, I picked up the book, “Out of the Spin Cycle – Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load”, by Jen Hatmaker. This book is an encouraging, humorous look at motherhood and our day to day struggle to teach our little ones. I don’t know about you but I find it comforting to hear stories from moms who are either going through the same struggles I am or have gone down this road and have survived toddler-hood.

This need to be refocused and encouraged is why I really miss the moms I met while attending the MOPs (Mothers of Pre-schoolers) meetings at our church. I miss being asked “So, how’s it going?”, I miss the conversations, I miss the prayer, I miss the knowing and caring looks when I’m explaining a struggle I’m having, I miss the companionship, I miss the crafts. and I miss the hot breakfast and the time to actually sit down, yes, you read right, SIT DOWN and eat that yummy breakfast. I decided not to attend this semester because I’m not ready to put my littlest one in the nursery yet. She’ll be six months old this week, and when the babies turn six months they have to go to the nursery in order to keep the meetings peaceful for all the moms. I completely understand this rule as our baby girl has “found her voice” and will give a nice loud pterodactyl screech every once in a while just to break the silence. Since I waited until my son was one year old before I put him in the nursery I want to give my little girl the same grace period. With that said, I am looking forward to the day when we three make the trek to MOPs on Tuesday mornings and Bible Study on Friday mornings.

What do you do to stay connected with other moms? Where do you get encouragement as you journey through motherhood?