Supermom

Faster than a runny nose.

More powerful with a shot of espresso...(or five).

Able to leap over mounds of laundry in a single bound.

Look! In the mirror!

Your tired. Your roots are showing. Your lucky if you get a shower.

Your Supermom!

Yes, from the moment these little creatures exited my womb this is what I have strived to be. Impossible? Maybe. Never the less, I keep trying.

I guess I'm still not exactly sure what being a "Supermom" in tales. Does this breed of mother really exist? Or is it simply an urban legend created to further guilt us moms in to forever feeling inadequate? Am I supposed to selflessly sacrifice everything entirely for my kids? Or, am I allowed to do some things for me and not live in fear of the guilt?

Is letting them watch five episodes of "Scooby Doo" in a row so I can have some "me time" really so bad?

Does putting off buying one of them a new pair of shoes for a couple of weeks, and getting my hair cut instead make me a "bad" mom?

What if, not cleaning out that scratch on my daughter's knee, leads to some flesh eating bacteria outbreak?

Should I let them chew regular gum and risk cavities or sugarless gum and risk cancer?

These are questions that plague me on a regular basis.

Just the other day, I had a "Kirby" vacuum salesman come to my door. He was offering to clean the carpet in one room of my house for free if I listened to his spiel. I had absolutely NO intention of spending $3,000 on a vacuum cleaner! (Unless maybe it could cook dinner and fold the laundry.)

Normally I would have said no,but It just so happened that I had a particularly dirty area in my dining room (ground in gummy treats I think) that could use some TLC. So I agreed. I thought my husband was gonna kill me for letting him in the house, but I didn't have a carpet cleaner and "Free" was the operative word here.

Those "Kirby" salesman are good! By the end of the presentation I was ready to break out my check book! If you've never seen one of these machines in action, they are pretty impressive. They pull things out of your carpet you didn't even know were in there, they clean dust mites from your mattress and pillows and they even convert into a shampooer!

I didn't buy the vacuum of course. Luckily I had my husband there to rein me back to earth by dangling the $3,000 price tag in my face. I politely turned him down. When he left though, I felt really guilty for not buying it.

I'm a clean freak. One of my self qualifications for Supermom includes a spotless house that looks like its straight out of "Better Homes and Gardens" Magazine. Pretty Unrealistic with three kids, I know. In my mind I kept thinking that maybe I was being a bad mom by not buying this "miracle" machine, instead of using my plain old vacuum I bought at Wal -Mart. (How could I continue to let them waller in this unseen filth! What if I'm putting their health at risk?)

Yes, these are the rambling thoughts that go through my mind. Part of me knows these thoughts are crazy, but the sane part of me(If there is one left) questions weather or not the crazy part is right. (SIGH!)

What's a mom to do?? Perhaps I may just have to accept the fact that I'm only human after all.

Maybe in order to potentially keep myself out of a straight jacket in the future, I should hang up

my cape and settle for being a good mom instead.