The Messy Side of Motherhood

Let's face it - I can't cover all the messes mothers deal with in just one post. And that's not really the purpose of this post anyway. 


I read a short blog tonight entitled "The Two Reasons I Would Never Switch To Cloth Diapers". 


The blog names those two reasons as "pee" and "poop." 


I almost laughed out loud.  


I was dealing with pee and poop long before I started cloth diapering. Doesn't that just come with becoming a mom? 


I've been peed on. Diaper changes with boys are fun, aren't they? 


I've been pooped on. Ever had a toddler with a stomach virus? Disposable diapers were not made for that. They leak...and if your toddler is on your lap (as toddlers like to be when they are sick), then that diaper leaks onto your leg. 


The author goes on to state "There is no price tag on the satisfaction of permanently disposing of the memory of one’s urine and bowel movements." My first two kids (who were in disposables) had blowout diapers that went up their backs and down their legs. The clothes they were wearing when those diapers leaked had pee AND poop on them. 


And I washed them. The children AND the clothes. Should I have disposed of their clothes? I guess the author would have, but I couldn't afford new clothes every time that happened.  


When my daughter was one, she pooped in the bathtub. Each of my kids since has followed her lead and done the same thing at some point (side note: 3 week old baby poop in the tub isn't nearly as disgusting as 4 year old poop in the tub). Should I have disposed of the tub? 


All of my kids diapers have leaked pee at some point while they were sleeping (cloth and disposable). After they were potty trained, they randomly wet their beds in the middle of the night. I'm really glad I didn't throw our sheets and mattresses away each time that happened. And car seats...I can't count how many times the car seats were peed on by my first two when their diapers leaked.  


And when they are out of diapers, it doesn't stop. When I started potty training my son, it seemed like almost every surface in our home received a sprinkling. If I had disposed of the things he peed on, so that I could be rid of the "memory of one's urine and bowel movements", then, well, we wouldn't have any mattresses or floors, or walls or...well, you get the point. He took a long time to potty train, didn't always make it to the toilet in time, and he had terrible aim. Most 3 year old boys do, right? I'm sad to say his aim hasn't improved much...


But I digress. The point is, pee and poop are facts of motherhood. Like snot. Or vomit (which I personally find more disgusting than poop). But I'll deal with all of those things because in return I get smiles and giggles, kisses and hugs. I also know that one day, I won't have any more poopy diapers to change.



And that kind of makes me sad.