This weekend, The Munckin faced her first battle with a stomach virus. It was awful and I felt completely helpless knowing there wasn’t much I could do for her but hold her and try my best to make her comfortable.

Luckily, she’s much better now, but whew, we dealt with a lot more throw up than I was planning on this weekend! And, not surprisingly, much of it ended up on me.

What was surprising though, was that it didn’t send my dinner back up. Instead, I was much more distracted by my concern for my little girl to worry about the fact that I was covered in the remnants of her last meal. It made me realize that yes, I am indeed a mom.

You know you’re a mom when:

1. Starting a Saturday at 7:30 a.m. is considered sleeping in.
2. The bodily functions of your small child do not invoke waves of nausea but rather concern (think throw up), peace of mind (that’s 5 wet diapers today) or even pride (aww, her first poop!)
3. Speaking of poop – it’s a topic of discussion that comes up in detail multiple times per day as in, “The Munchkin hasn’t pooped yet today,” or “What kind of poop was it?” or “Is (insert adjective like green, mushy or purple here) normal in baby poop?”  or finally the ever dreaded yet regularly occurring call for assistance: “We’ve got a situation here.”
4. Songs like The Itsy, Bitsy Spider are always stuck in your head.
5. And you find the need to add hand motions and over-the-top facial expressions to anything you’re singing.
6. Arriving 5 minutes late is an accomplishment.
7. You have cheerios stashed everywhere – just in case.
8. Showering, styling your hair, applying makeup and looking presentable (which were once regular parts of your day) only all happen at once for special occasions.
9. Your decisions about what to have for dinner depend more on the ability to mash, cut up or tear apart the food than what you actually might enjoy eating.
10. A hug from your little one, their laughter, or even the sight of them sleeping peacefully at night is enough to bring you to tears because of the overwhelming love you have for them and the joy that swells in your heart.

This post is linked to {Top Ten Tuesday} over at Oh Amanda. Check out more lists of 10 there.