People tend to use the words ‘inspirational’, ‘amazing’, ‘strong’, ‘brave’ and of course the sentence “I don’t know how you do it” is never far from their lips. 

Honestly, those words make me a little uncomfortable. For two main reasons; I do not know how to react to such amazing descriptive words used to describe little old me - me! 

And secondly; had you seen me ten minutes ago you would have questioned my sanity; I could easily have been burning potatoes (yes you read that right) while trying to clean something brown off the brown tiles , while singing ‘Paw Patrol’ (very badly) while being reminded by my almost three year old son that “Ethie’s medisin man is at the door, I talked to him out of the door box ” (he means letter box). I sure as sh*t don’t feel like I am any of those things.... 

The truth is I am loud, sensitive, brash, crude, I like to think ‘funny’ and I can even be charming. Once upon a time I gave birth to a baby; like millions of other women have done and will do until the end of time. 

As soon as he was born, I loved him far more than anyone that ever walked the planet ; like millions of other women love their babies . That same feeling you got and still have for your child, I still have for mine.When your child is sick; you would give anything to make the pain stop even though you know it’s just a nasty bug , you ache to see them in such pain and discomfort. 

You will take them to the doctor. You will get the medicine . You will stay up all night if they cannot sleep and you will clean up lumpy smelly vomit while trying not to vomit yourself. You will bath them and hope they feel better after you’ve gently squeezed the sponge over their fever riddled little bodies. 

If they have a problem, come hell or high water you will do your best to fix it or advise them on how to fix it. You will lose sleep worrying about your child. You will feel anxious on behalf of your child the night before a big game, a recital, a new school year , an operation, exams 

I feel all that too.

I am the same.

Are you an inspiration? Nah, although sometimes you know you kinda are - you know those days when it all clicks into place as Van once sang, like the flick of a switch; yeah those days, the days when you got all your children to all the places, events or appointments they needed to be at and you still managed to cook a decent dinner along with having two loads of washing drying and not to mention the fact that you scrubbed the toilet too; yep, that's kinda inspirational ain't it? 

I am the same.

Are you strong?Christ, try and stop you if someone mistreats your child, eh! Your child has a problem, well, you’ll deal with that first and worry about your needs after. 

I am the same.

Are you amazing? Nah, although ...you did co-create these mini people. And you worked all day long but still managed a quick game of football despite being absolutely knackered when you finally got home. Not forgetting all the gardening you’ve done each evening because it was dry...and not a chipped fingernail to be found! Yep, that's pretty amazing. 

I am the same.

Are you brave? Oh no , you don’t feel brave ..although , you did go into your child's school and inform them that your child needed more support, despite them giving you the usual ‘budget’ line , you continued to tell them ‘you know your child and you don’t agree’ while a room full of professionals disagreed with you. You stood your ground and got what your child needed. Yep, that is actually pretty brave ain’t it?

I am the same. 

My point is ; we are all inspirational , strong, brave, amazing and none of us know how any of us do it; but we do do it ,simply because we are mammies. 

We just do what we have to. I do what I have to do and yes to those who meet me, you are right it isn’t easy and I have no clue how I do it  just as you sometimes stand and take stock of all you’ve done and think ‘how did I get through that!’

For those of you who have used wonderful kind words to describe little old me - this is for you : 

“You’re braver than you believe
Stronger than you seem, And smarter than you think” A.A. Milne

Written by Ger Renton, who keeps us up to date on her crazy family life with Ethan & co.
Ger won best newcomer 2016 at the Irish Blog Awards!
Follow her on facebook at  "It’s me and Ethan" and check out her amazing blog at geraldinerenton.com