Navigating The Joys and Frustrations Of Motherhood Through Humor

Sandra Ojiako | Sandra Ojiako lives in Alberta, Canada with her husband and three kids. She loves her snacks, creative writing and her family… not in that particular order of course!

Let me warn you, there is no end to this story because it’s one that goes on and on my friends. However, I will pause it for you at a certain point but it will go on for me. My name is Sandra and I’m a mom who navigates the joys and frustrations of motherhood through humor.

It all began on a Wednesday, or was that Thursday, or maybe Monday? Well it all began with the birth of my son in 2015. He was the perfect baby and I mean it. He was that baby you read about in parenting books that every advice worked on. He was that baby that opened his mouth and enjoyed his first solid food. He was that baby that didn’t mind if his breast milk came straight from source or from a bottle. Would you believe that he was that baby who a simple Google search of how to stop breastfeeding worked on? The page said “just tell your baby that mommy’s milk is finished and his milk would be different from now on”. It worked like magic the first time I tried it. It was unbelievable! Oh the Joys of Motherhood!

Let’s fast forward to 2017 to the birth of ‘The Second Born’. Have you heard about second born kids? Well let me tell you about mine. For the second time I had a baby but for the first time, I had Postpartum Depression. This is not a story I’m ready to tell but you can bet it was the beginning of my journey through frustrated waters. I was the captain but at that time, I wished I were just a crew member. I began to hate parenting books and every advice on the internet. Nothing worked. Absolutely nothing. She did not sleep. Bottles were the enemy. I was a working mom whose baby would rather starve than drink from a bottle. I had to shuttle from work to home just for feedings. Nothing worked. She hated her first solid food. She turned down every gourmet meal that had previously been rated 5 stars by the baby that came before her. When she finally accepted a meal, it was the only one she would eat for months! I was broken.

The Second Born was the reason I opened my Instagram page in the motherhood niche. There I found I could vent all my frustrations through memes. When I began seeing how other mothers could relate, it was such a relief. I wasn’t alone. This wasn’t unique to me. There were others out there who were going through the same thing and could laugh about it. My situation once caused me to tweet the following on Twitter:

“My first kid was the type of baby that would inspire you to write a ‘cherish every moment’ style parenting book. However my second is the type of kid that parenting memes are made of.”

Now let’s move on to The Third Born. OMG…

In the summer of 2019, The Third Born arrived. She hated sleep and thought she was an extension of her mother. She and I were one. She only liked me and the First Born. No one else. Not her father and certainly not the Second Born. Remember when I told you about the Second Born hating food? The Third Born hated it all and had no favorite. Then one day after many tears and phone calls with a dietician, she found a favorite. Broccoli. Who was this child? But all I could say to myself at that time was “I’ve got this”. I had my Village on Instagram who I could vent to and laugh with. They understood.

There are times when people ask why we make fun of our kids…

“How dare you not cherish every moment?”

“If you hate your kids, why did you have them?”

It’s quite possible that some of these people have one or more kids like my First Born. They just don’t get it. Who wouldn’t cherish it all with a perfect by-the-book kid? I remember when motherhood was all rosy for me. It was made of sugar, spice and everything nice. There’s no way I would have related with the frustrations of motherhood at that time. I’m lucky to have found a coping mechanism through humor.

Hi, it’s me, the Captain of the motherhood ship. The Skipper. The one who goes down with the ship. It’s me who’s navigating waters that are uncharted to me and sometimes laughing while I do it. It’s me who sheds tears of joy and also hot stressful tears. It’s me, a mother of three meme, tweet and TikTok muses. It’s me who navigates through the joys and frustration of motherhood through humor.