I’ve met some amazing women through the Mamavation Sistahood, and I’m pleased to introduce another one to you today: Jeanae, of the Just Jeanae blog. She is the mom of a Superkid and wife to a soldier (who happens to be deployed right now), but she still manages, despite holding down the fort, to cheer on her fellow sistas every day with amazing support and thoughtfulness.

You can keep up with her progress every week at her Mamavation Monday posts (where she shares food AND fitness progress). She was a Mamavation Mom in the last campaign, and you can see her incredible results from that here.

I’m so happy to have one of my favorite online cheerleaders and friends here to share with you today. Thank you for coming by, Jeanae!

Some women are simply born maternal.  You know the type: they start off as young girls with names and personalities for their future husbands and children. They just can’t wait to babysit or nurture younger kids. They are natural born mothers. Nope, that wasn’t me at all. I was convinced that I was simply born without a single maternal bone in my body, and I was okay with that.  I had goals to accomplish, and plans to get there. Absolutely nothing on my agenda contained the words mom, laundry, or carpool. Simply the thought of the term housewife conjured hives.  I thought that if my life ever happened to lead marriage and parenting to my door, that I would be the spitting image of Claire Huxtable of the Cosby Show. Right? Certainly I could juggle a household, maintain a comedic love affair, and never have a hair out of place. Right?

I spent many years playing the grad school and career game, and I thought that I knew what happiness and accomplishments meant. My host of friends and cohorts joined me on trips around the globe, dream fulfilling escapades, and shopping until we dropped.  Eventually, I married the Bald Genius (he has a real name, but it isn’t nearly as fun to say), and started down the path of family life.  I have to admit that I had no clue what parenting truly entailed.  I was completely ignorant of how deeply I could love someone until I first saw the face of my adorable son.  Now my world is completely his.

This song by the Not-Its pretty much sums up the craziness that has become my life.

Why didn’t someone warn me that morning for moms start so early?  I am on the go long before the sun rises, and still running after dark.  All that I once held dear no longer matters, as I fully cherish the task of preparing a darling boy to go out into the world.  My schedule is no longer my own, and I have now surrendered to the life of a full-time mom. I dare say that I turned into the very woman who once gave me hives.  You’ll find me yelling at the ball field, cheering at a swimming competition, hiding my earplugs at piano recitals, and smiling through it all.  I haven’t quite figured out how to juggle everything and keep myself Claire Huxtable/camera ready form, but I am so grateful for the opportunity to parent my amazing kid. This is a life that is far greater than anything that I ever imagined or expected.  I am a mom, and there is nothing greater (or messier, louder, funnier, more surprising…) than this.

You can find Jeanae at her blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter.