Motherhood Has Made Me A Cry Baby

We all know that pregnancy wreaks havoc on our bodies, but I’m pretty sure it alters our brains too. Not only have I developed Momnesia, but I’ve also turned into a emotional hot mess since having my kids.

I used to pride myself into being the rock everyone leaned on; I was never one to get emotional or cry. Crying, though healthy at times, always made me feel weak and out of control so I mostly reserved it for the privacy of my own shower.

Since becoming a mother, I’ve apparently misplaced my big girl pants. I cry at anything and everything, especially when it comes to my kids. I would even venture to say I’m one cry away from a permanent role in a bad Hallmark movie.

Here are just some of the things I’ve cried over in the last month… but first let me grab a Kleenex.

1. Pampers commercials – The marketing and advertising team behind these are brilliant! First thing I learned in sales was in order to create loyalty you have to make an emotional connection. Bingo, Pampers! Even though I cloth diaper, these commercials make me want to buy Pampers. So enough of the cute babies sleeping and mom’s embracing all the amazing moments of having babies – it’s making me cry!

2. Lysol commercial – There was an online video that appeared in my newsfeed about bringing home baby from the first time. The video brought me back to that moment when my first son was born and the look on my husband and I’s face like: WHOA, my heart just exploded and by the way, what do we do now? Guys, I’m literally tearing up writing this! What’s wrong with me?

3. My son told me he loved me – Every now and again, my older son will walk over and tell me he has a present for me. When I ask him what it is, he grins from ear to ear and says, “I love you, momma”. Then proceeds to hug me tighter than normal. Cue the water works!

4. I cleaned out my baby’s clothes – My little guy just turned one so it was time to go through all his baby clothes for donation. Looking at all those little onesies and knowing I’ll never use them again made me ugly cry.

5. I sold some baby gear – Same emotion as above. I had to use one hand to pry my other hand off the Jumperoo. My uterus didn’t want to let it go.

6. I couldn’t get my son in for a haircut – Sometimes parenting is really overwhelming! As a type A, I don’t like my time to be wasted. Time is not a luxury I have so when I took my son in for a hair cut and they told me it would be a 45 minute wait, I went to my car and lost it. So I went home and cut his hair myself. Bad idea.

7. My son helped me decorate the tree for the first time – This was the first year he really understood the holidays. We put all the ornaments on together and after – I cried. Why? I don’t know.

8. I glanced at my baby in his crib and realized how big he suddenly is – Why do they grow so fast? I feel like every night I look at him he grows another inch. He is losing his “baby-ness” and it makes me emotional, of course.

9. Any story I saw about a child hurting or that is ill – I literally break down whenever I see a news story about a child that is sick or hurt. Why do I always click to read these stories when I know I’m just going to cry about them? It’s torture.

10. My “baby” turned one – Baby Center sent me an email calling him a toddler. Lost it.

Sometimes I actually laugh at myself once I’ve realized what I was crying about. Why does everything pull at my heart strings now? Why does becoming a mom open up the flood gate of tears we used to be able to control? Do our hormones ever balance out? Or should I just accept the fact that I’ll need to carry around a slew of tissues in my pocket forever?

Related post: Motherhood is Making Me Stupid