just be yourself.

As moms, we often compare ourselves with other moms. We compare our kids to other kids and our husbands to other husbands. We compare the cleanliness and organization of our house to the cleanliness and organization of other houses.

You've heard of a "Pinterest mom", right? You know, that mom who is always making her child's food into animal shapes, having themed dinners every night, elaborate birthday parties for all her kids, making salt dough hand prints & homemade valentines & every other craft you can think of, putting glow sticks in the bathtub, turning bedrooms into forts, growing vegetables in her backyard... I could go on & on.

I feel like a lot of moms out there feel like they need to be a Pinterest mom. They feel like if their kid brings Oreos to class as a treat instead of homemade organic gluten-free vegan energy bars, they've failed. They feel like if they just have some store-bought cupcakes and a few balloons at their child's first birthday party instead of a catered event with DIY pinatas and a photo booth, they're not good enough.

But then you see all these articles and blog posts about how we shouldn't feel like we need to be a Pinterest mom. We shouldn't have to do science experiments and art time for 2 hours every day to feel like we're a "good enough" mom. Seriously, that stuff doesn't matter. Our kids won't care that their hot dog was cut into an octopus a year from now. But we all know that. We all know we don't need to be a Pinterest mom. We're "good enough" just loving our kids and being there for them.

So after we all realized that there's no need to try to "one up" each other, we started thinking that being a Pinterest mom was bad. We read these blog posts that said "a messy house is a happy house" and "good moms have sticky floors, dirty dishes and happy kids" and we started to think that having a clean, organized house meant we don't spend enough time with our kids. We started thinking that if we put too much effort into our child's Halloween costume that that meant we were too worried about what other moms thought of our kids than what we thought of our own kids.

So now what's a mom to do??

If your child brings homemade valentines to school, you're trying too hard. If your child brings store bought valentines to school, you're not trying hard enough. If your kitchen is always spotless and your bathroom is always sparkling, you don't spend enough time with your kids. If your sink is full of dishes and your bathroom floor hasn't been mopped in 3 weeks, you're lazy and unproductive.

You really can't win.

Well here's a wild idea: why don't we all just stop comparing, stop trying to please everyone else, and just be ourselves? If you want to dress your child up in adorable outfits every day, do it! If you want to let your kid run around without pants on, do it! If you want to plan a fancy birthday party with Etsy decorations and homemade snacks, do it! If you want to just have grandparents over for cake, do it!

Whether you sent Chex Mix with your child to school for the class party because you didn't have the time or energy to make something else, or if you sent Chex Mix simply because you wanted to and didn't care about making something special, then do it! If you want to spend 2 hours creating adorable butterflies out of baggies, clothespins and grapes, do it! You don't have to explain yourself.

If you want to clean your house top to bottom while your child watches an episode of Bubble Guppies on repeat, do it. If you'd rather chill on the couch and watch Bubble Guppies with your child for 2 hours, do it. Seriously, just be yourself and do what you want to do!

Stop comparing yourself to Pinterest. Stop comparing yourself to the moms on your Facebook newsfeed. If you drop off your child to school in sweatpants and a ponytail, don't feel "not good enough" when the mom with a full face of makeup and curled hair and a sundress walk past. If you're the mom who is dressed up for the day already, don't feel like you're "trying too hard" when you see a mom still in her pajamas.

Just be yourself. It's too stressful to be constantly worried about what other moms and families are doing and trying to "keep up"!

God created each one of us to be different and unique. That's what makes spending time with other moms so special. We're all different, we all have different priorities, wants & needs and we all have something to offer.

And most importantly, we're all good enough. So just be yourself - the YOU that God created you to be.