Running a business and raising three kids with unique needs means the days blur together. Most nights, I'm up too late folding laundry or shipping packages. Most mornings, I'm running on caffeine and grace. Like so many moms I know, I constantly wonder if I'm doing enough—being enough.
This Mother's Day, I was reminded of just how much that question haunts me.
My kids were so excited to give me their gifts. They had picked out cards and presents, wrapped them with all the pride in the world, and handed them to me with beaming smiles. I opened the bag and found things I hadn't used in over three years. Things from a "before" version of me—before diagnoses, before chaos, before my life changed shape to match the needs of the beautiful children I now spend every day supporting.
I smiled. I said thank you. But inside, it hit hard.
I haven’t had time or energy to enjoy those things in years. I don’t read novels for fun anymore. I don't take bubble baths. I don't wear perfume. Those gifts reminded me of everything I used to do... and everything I haven't done in a long time.
And for a moment, I felt like a failure.
Had I not been present enough for them to know me now—the mom I am today, not the one I was years ago?
But then I looked at their faces.
They tried. They remembered. They made the effort.
In their eyes, they were giving me the best gifts they could think of. And really, that is the best gift.
It wasn't about the bubble bath. It was about their hearts.
Motherhood is messy and layered. Some days we feel like we’re crushing it, and others we feel invisible. But even on our hardest days, when we're stretched thin and doubting ourselves, our kids still see us. They see who we are to them.
And this year, on a day meant to celebrate moms, my kids unknowingly gave me what I needed most: the reminder that I matter. That I’m loved. That they see me trying—and they’re trying too.
So if you’re reading this and you’re feeling like you’re failing... you're not. You're showing up. You're doing the best you can. And that matters more than you know.
At Doodlebugs, we believe in celebrating the realness of motherhood—the beautiful, the broken, and the brave. Because even on the days you feel like you're falling apart, your love is holding everything together.
And that's more than enough.