When Mr. Charm was diagnosed two years ago with a milk protein intolerance (MPI) and an IgE egg allergy, I thought about starting a blog. The diagnosis was shocking, and really rocked our world…how do you LIVE without butter and cheese?? The doctors were really not much help; essentially, when you are given this diagnosis you are handed a printout of common ingredients that contain whatever allergen you must avoid and told “Avoid these things and you’ll be fine.”
Humph. Have you ever tried grocery shopping with an infant that nurses every 1.5 hours while reading every. single. ingredient. on every. single. item. in the grocery store while comparing it to a xeroxed sheet of unpronounceable words? Have you ever tried to figure out how to substitute half the ingredients in your favorite recipes while trying to keep your baby entertained? Yeah. It’s hard.
That’s why I considered starting a blog then, and that’s why I did NOT start a blog then. It was hard, and I really wanted to share what I was learning (my pediatrician actually told me I should write a book about it after I had, yet again, informed her of some fact about MPI that she didn’t know), but I was doing everything I could to tread water at that time. The idea of taking on another project just made me feel tired.
So this summer, when Mr. Happy got HIS fun little diagnosis, I realized that my experiences with Mr. Charm had prepared me quite well for our new journey. If I can figure out how to live, and live well, without cheese and butter, well…anything else is a piece of cake! (Hi, I’m Mama, and I’m a cheese-a-holic. I’ve been mostly clean for two years.)
Somehow, even with two children, one of whom is energetic enough to single-handedly power Manhattan, and this new diagnosis that rocked the foundations of our world again, I knew I could handle sharing these experiences in a blog. I’ve learned a lot about how to live in the confusing world of food allergies. I knew this was the time to start sharing. (Ahem. I am by no means an expert! I still learn something new almost every day!)
So I took the plunge and joined the ranks of “Mommy Bloggers”. But then…a name…I had to have a blog name!
It’s almost as hard as naming your child, frankly.
I started coming up with allergy or FPIES related names, but decided against them. Even though that would be a large focus of my posts, I knew I intended to also share some of the other things that interest me in the future, like craft projects, thoughts on parenting, and travel stories. Allergies are a huge part of my life, but they are, after all, only a part of it. I didn’t want my blog to be self-limiting.
In the end, I decided that of all the things I am in this life, of all the things I want to write about, motherhood sort of sums it all up. Yes, I’m a wife, and I will be a wife for longer than I will be a mother, and yes, I have a career, and I’ve had that career for a long time, but somehow being Mama to my boys has crystallized everything I know and everything I am. It makes me evaluate my marriage not only to keep the Geek and I happy, but to ensure I’m setting the best possible example for my kids. It makes me want to be a better employee in my job, so my boys see what hard work looks like. Being a Mama has changed me, made me stronger, made me smarter (and more aware of the things I don’t know at the same time), and made me grow in ways I could never have imagined.
So I started thinking “Mom” names. And what better ode to motherhood than this poem:
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
Blessings on the hand of women!
Angels guard its strength and grace,
In the palace, cottage, hovel,
Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
Rainbows ever gently curled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Infancy’s the tender fountain,
Power may with beauty flow,
Mother’s first to guide the streamlets,
From them souls unresting grow–
Grow on for the good or evil,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Woman, how divine your mission
Here upon our natal sod!
Keep, oh, keep the young heart open
Always to the breath of God!
All true trophies of the ages
Are from mother-love impearled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Blessings on the hand of women!
Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
With the worship in the sky–
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
William Ross Wallace (1819-1881)
Oh, yes! We Mothers ARE the hand that rules the world. We are the foundation of the home, the bedrock of our children’s upbringing. We have an amazing, awesome responsibility and honor: to raise our children well, to protect them, to love them, to guide them into being responsible members of society and walking testimonies to faith.
(Have any doubts about the influence of mothers? Think about all the people out there in therapy to undo what their bad mothers – and fathers – did to them!)
So that’s where it came from: I AM a Cradle Rocking Mama, and I rule my world. Just like every other Mama rules hers.
(I’m feeling like a fist in the air and a “Power to the Mama’s!” shout right about now.)
Any other Cradle Rocking Mama’s out there? Give a shout out about how you rule your world!
