I wrote the title for this post when I was about nine months pregnant with my second baby boy – who is now six months old. I was so tired that all I got to was the title. I think I then fell into a deep sleep with my computer next to me.

I was looking through my drafts and realized how many moms would relate to this one.

How many times do we sigh after our three year old has had an epic tantrum because you gave him the blue cup instead of the red cup and say to ourselves, “OMG, I really need a break before I go crazy.”

But as parents, we don’t really get breaks.

Being the mom to an infant and a toddler really has me pulling my hair out lately. I spend a lot of time on my blog sharing the ugly – the poop, tantrums and sleepless nights.

Sometimes I have to reel my emotions in and remind myself of how freaking lucky I am.

I have an adorable, healthy three year old. I have a sweet, beautiful three month old. I have a loving husband, a dog, a home, a good job and I am healthy. I have a car and health insurance and friends and food and faith.

I complain about how hard it is to parent.

It’s that time again! Time for me to tell you more about the ways I have failed at parenting my children. Though by now I call them learning experiences or character builders. Let’s keep things positive people!

Here are ten of the things I have personally learned since becoming a parent. The things that people don’t tell you when you find out you’re pregnant. Some, such as myself, would think of these as hacks. The normal human would think of them as common sense.

1. Take your toddler’s fuzzy socks off before changing a poopy diaper. If you do not, the child in question will somehow stick the fuzzy sock into a large pile of poop, making a bigger, more disgusting mess.

Almost one year ago today, I wrote a post titled, No, I’m Not Tired: The Life of a Working Mom. I looked back at it today and realized how much my life has changed in one short year. When I wrote that post, I had one kid – now I have two. BIG DIFFERENCE.

So I thought I should write an update. And this time I am going to title the post appropriately, because yes, I am tired. Very tired. Four cups of coffee tired.

One year ago, I would get up at 5 am in the morning. And I thought that was early.

I admit that sometimes I write my blog posts for selfish reasons. And today is one of those days. One of those days where I needed to convince myself that everything would be okay in the end.

Nothing too out of the ordinary happened today. Just life. Normal things. But for some reason, it just felt overwhelming today. It just seemed like SO MUCH.

Somehow I ended up with pink eye two weeks after both kids had it.

Both of the kids cried the entire way home from the sitter. And not just whimpers – ear piercing crying. The “I’m beyond being calmed down” cry.

I knew when I started blogging that not everyone would agree with what I wrote. And I was 100% okay with that because I write about a lot of things that some people might consider controversial.

But yesterday, someone made a comment saying that I had not “grown into a mother” in response to an article I wrote about going back to work after maternity leave. She didn’t disagree with the fact I went back to work, but she did disagree with the fact that I felt “more like myself” after going back to work. And that I treated my children as an extension of my job.

There is a lot of crazy going on in the world right now. I won’t lie, it’s scary. I would love to live in a bubble and just avoid everything that is going on, but that’s just not possible.

And you know what, watching all of it can really put you in a funk. You can stare at the TV screen or your phone or the newspaper and cry. Or you can count your blessings.

I saw a clip the other day of a man and his son. They had escaped the hurricane with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Social media and I have a love/hate relationship. Since I have been on maternity leave, I have spent a lot of time scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram to pass the hours while attempting to comfort my newborn that has not taken up sleeping at night yet. While it does keep me extremely entertained, it also makes me feel extremely inadequate at times.

Being a mom in this modern world is hard. Everyone splashes their beautiful family pictures and workout selfies and Pinterest birthday parties all over the internet. I have done these things too!! Henry’s first birthday was a freaking fiesta.