Give a Mom a break.

I had always heard new Moms say how hard it is to get out of the house once you have a baby. But I never had any idea just how hard it was until I became a mom. First you have to time it with naps, then you have to pack the diaper bag - formula, diapers, extra cloths, bottles, water, etc. - get the baby strapped into the car seat, remember your items - phone, wallet, keys, sunglasses, etc. - and if you're lucky you'll be out the door about 20 minutes after you intended to.

Sometimes I wondered if leaving the house was worth the hassle. A simple trip to the grocery store was exhausting. But life still has to go on. There are trips to the post office, the bank, Babies R Us, and the occasional Mommy trip to TJMaxx. Usually Jon Jon would fall asleep in the car and I would try my best to get him out of the car and into the store without waking him. I would give dirty looks to those around me who talked to loud, making his little eyes peek open. Couldn't they see how desperate I was?? With my little baby, and my unwashed hair, and mismatched outfit. All I wanted was to wander around a store like I had all the time in the world, that is until he woke up.

And he would always manage to wake up right when I was in line to check out. When I had spent half an hour in consumerism bliss, and there was no way I was going to leave without those precious few items. And then he would start to cry, and here I am wedged in between other shoppers with no escape in sight. "Aw, he's hungry." "Oh - he must be tired," they would say. No! He's not hungry, and he's not tired, I would want to retaliate, as if this was a personal attack on me and my mothering skills, when all they were trying to do was make conversation. But that's no help to a Mom who has been cooped up in a house with no one but the dog to talk to.

Next time you are out shopping and you see a Mom struggling with her little one, open the door for her! Let her go in front of you in line! Offer to help her get her groceries in the car. This is a woman who just wants to get through her to-do list for the day without any melt downs - her and her baby. So see if you can help her out just a little. If you are a Mom you should remember what those days were like. And if you're not a Mom, you have one, and she too probably battled the triathlon of dry cleaner, bank, and supermarket in a single day. So for her sake, give a Mom a break. She'll be forever grateful and think to herself, "I hope my baby is as nice as that stranger when they grow up." And isn't that the best compliment you could receive?