So originally, I had the idea that writing a list of all of the things I feel guilty about as a mom might be a good cathartic exercise that would help me recognize, and move past, some of these feelings. Here is the list I came up with. Some are contradictory, some complementary, and all of them have washed over me at some point over the last 5 months. Some have been fleeting and some have been more consuming.. So, as a mom, I feel guilty about:

• Taking my baby to day care every day
• Not being as “present” at work as I used to be (pumping 2-3 times a day, taking daily lunches to feed the baby, etc)
• Not leaving work early enough every day
• Not staying later at work every day
• Leaving the house by myself for 2-3 hours at a time on the weekends
• Taking the baby places on the weekends when it might interfere with nap time or bed time
• Exercising 2 days/week after work (b/c I miss those hours with my baby)
• Not exercising enough
• Spending too much time on facebook while nursing
• Missing out on friends’ big events/announcements/birthdays because I’m not on facebook as much overall
• Sticking the phone in my baby’s face to take a million pictures
• Not sending enough of those pictures to the grandparents
• Not walking the dog enough
• Not noticing the weird thing going on with my cat’s toe that might be an infection, or might be a cancerous tumor (update from the vet since I first wrote this – It is not a tumah!).
• Talking about the baby too much around friends that don’t have babies
• Talking about the baby too much to friends who do have babies
• Forgetting to respond to text messages/emails that come through when I’m doing baby things
• Spending too much money on the baby
• Not doing any yard work yet in 2015
• Not taking my car to get looked at even though it’s doing that rough idle thing again
• Not cooking dinner every night
• Eating out too often
• Not eating salads for lunch
• Not caring as much about my diet
• Not caring as much about work
• Still really loving my job and enjoying doing something I’m good at,
• But not being as good at it as I know I am
• Talking about work to my at-home mom friends
• Letting him nap in the swing on weekends (even though he gets 2+ hours of sleep that way!)

There you have it… I’m sure there are more things, but that’s the brain dump that came out in less than five minutes a few weeks ago. Have something to add that I haven’t covered? Please share your guilt in the comments!