Respect for Motherhood

I honestly don't know how moms do it and this week has made me respect motherhood so much more. I was sitting on the stairs, the baby crying... Okay, screaming.... in her crib upstairs too stubborn to sleep, even though she was exhausted. I was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed.

A pile of laundry on the stairs waiting for me to take it up. Toys scatter across the hall and throughout the living room. The dishes barely done before lunch dishes begin to pile up. A partially eaten banana, an open applesauce, the remains of her morning bottle sit on the table above the thrown fruit pieces and puffs on the floor... Oh, and there's food on my shirt that Elena spit back out....

How do they do it all? How do mothers do it? I don't have to put on laundry, give baths or put them to sleep at night or a multitude of other things (birth included). My job is infinitely easier than being a mom. So to all mother's out there: props to you and keep up the hard work, I believe you are doing the hardest job in the world. You're an inspiration.