I once dropped a chunk of deli turkey on my newborn babies cheek while eating a sandwich one handed and nursing. I just plucked it right off and ate it, and he kept on sleeping.

When Haden was 6 weeks old, I did an event with my moms work where I sold some products of which will not be named. Looking back now, I was just desperate to do anything other than caring for a baby for a little while, so I gave the salesperson thing a stint. What I didn't really remember was how incredibly exhausted I was and how incredibly overwhelming just simply caring for a newborn was. Halfway through the day, I ran to the restroom to change his diaper. When I emerged I saw my mom mingling with some co workers and walked over to chat. My mom stopped me and said "nicole, you have poop all over your arm"- sure enough, I had washed my hands but somehow missed my arm.

Oh the joy I take in being a hot mess mom. Seriously guys, I used to be embarrassed. I used to live in fear that someone would see the coffee stain on my shirt or scoff at my messy bun. I used to worry that I'd lose friends if they showed up unannounced at my house and they saw the disaster that existed within it.

But yeah, that got old pretty quickly.

Now my kids are older. And today Haden, on his way to kindergarten, said to me "mom, what if my friends laugh at my big bag of cereal?" (He had packed himself his own snack- a halfway filled gallon size bag of cheerios). I said "yeah, well, they might. But, you can laugh too. Because, honestly it's funny. And then you can just accept that it's gunna get the job done: you likely won't be hungry after that snack." Here's the deal my hot mess friends: maybe it's messy, maybe it's a little amusing, and maybe people laugh. But by golly, we get this mom job done and we do it well. So give yourself some credit! So yeah, maybe I can't drink from a normal coffee mug (please give me a lid and straw) and maybe my car looks like a dumpster, but my kids know that my spontaneity and ability to not really care for things to be perfect, means their mom is likely to not say no to a last minute adventure. They know that I'm not one to turn down an art project even if we forget to do the laundry first. They know that maybe even if my ducks aren't in a row, were still loving our crazy, messy, beautiful life. The truly awesome thing about us hot mess moms, is that when we can embrace ourselves, we can teach our kids to do the same. We can teach them to find those people who love us for exactly who we are.

Those are the people who value authenticity and honesty. Those are the people worth investing in.

So here's to you, my hot mess mom friends. Find what you do well, embrace the heck out of it, and laugh at the rest. Your heart will be happy and so will theirs.