That's what happy mommies are made of!

I've recently started reading a book that lets its readers in on the secrets of being a "Happy Mommy" (oh okay, laugh if you want!). This book is amazingly candid about motherhood and all that it 's made out to be and is often not.

Since becoming a mother I've often felt, in all honesty, that motherhood is terribly overrated. All that talk about instant mother-child bonding, a mother being able to understand every cry, every whimper....I've not felt any of that. But maybe that's just me. Perhaps, I lack a certain sixth sense that women are supposed to have. For me, being a mother has been one heck of a journey and I don't think I've even left the station yet. I'm far too busy tackling potty training, cleaning pee off the floor, diffusing tantrums (that seem to be intensifying in their frequency and strength!) to really bother myself with something as inane as my happiness.

Having now read a few pages of my 'happiness handbook' I've started to question whether I really am happy or not. Was I happier before becoming a mother? I guess that in a way I was. I have friends who are single, independent, 'non mothers' who definitely seem a lot happier than me. My life is no longer mine. It's all about my child. I wake up in the morning for him and everything I do through the day is for him.

Ask me though if I would have it any other way and I'd say a definite no! That's what is so amazing about motherhood. Given the chance to go back in time, nearly every mother will say that she would without doubt become a mother again. Nothing in this world can ever compare to being a mom.

As far as happiness is concerned, is it ever a constant in anyone's life? Like everything, it comes and goes. If there's anything that motherhood has taught me, it's about finding tit bits of happiness in the smallest of things. Trust me, even a dirty diaper can bring a smile to my face. I'm just happy that he did a good poo! Can you then imagine how deliriously happy I am when Neel plants a kiss on my cheek?

So, am I a "Happy Mommy"? I most definitely, positively, without an ounce of a doubt, am!