Many hats.

In the past week or two, I've worn more hats than usual:
wedding photographer
real estate photographer
registered nurse (I finally transferred my temporary license so I can practice in North Carolina!)
seamstress

I don't say this to brag. Because if you're a mom, this is nothing new or impressive to you. We all wear many hats, whether we're staying home with the kids full-time, working from home, or working outside the home.

Last week, I had to bring Liam along to a real estate photography shoot. The realtor needed photos last minute, saying, "We have to have this on the market by tomorrow," and I had no childcare options at the time. I figured Liam could play a game on my phone while I photographed my way around the house. Ha! Wishful thinking.

As soon as we walked in the house, the homeowner asked if Liam was ok with dogs. "He loves dogs!" I said, just as a little white dog charged at Liam, jumped up and licked his face, traumatizing him forever. Or at least that's how he sounded. For the next 30 photos, I balanced a whimpering child in one arm while trying not to drop my heavy camera with the other. When he finally regained composure, I sent him into a spare bedroom to play with a toy truck. I finished my work quickly, went to find him, and found that he'd made his way into the office and dumped a thousand tiny paper circles from a three-hole punch all over the carpet.

I know he wasn't trying to be difficult, and it wasn't fair to bring him and expect so much. But wow. When I see these real estate photos online, all I can picture is the sweaty, crying child in my other arm. We made it through, only by the grace of God. And I'm sure someday I'll think about it and miss these days of crazy.

I got to thinking, there must be a hard working mom behind just about everything. Maybe she's spending 9 to 5 in the office, missing her kids in daycare and rushing home to cook dinner each night - or maybe she's working from home during naps. Perhaps she's got 2 or 5 or 8 little ones running around and she's raising the next senator or pastor or social justice activist. Keep going, moms. Keep up the insanely hard but incredibly rewarding work. We're in this thing together.