by Melissa Willets posted in Parenting

We are used to seeing perfectly-curated Instagram images of moms with just-right hair and makeup, dressed like they had more than 4 minutes to themselves that morning, and smiling as if their lives are just so, sooo perfect! Like no one spit up on them, or woke them up three times last night. Like they actually showered! Like they aren't at all strung out on caffeine, and counting down the hours until nap time.
Those photos, while sometimes aspirational, are often eye-rolling examples of why it's so easy to fall into a pit of despair that you're a schleppy Roseanne-like mom, in a sea of Gloria Delgado-Pritchetts, as played by the impossibly ageless and always-sexy Sofia Vergara on Modern Family. But the constant barrage of filtered, flawless images of seemingly unwrinkled, tummy-roll free, perfectly-plaited moms (and their equally ideally-coordinated kiddos), also means that when you do manage to come across a photo of a real moment, where the mama's hair is matted or she looks exhausted, or she's not dressed just so, or it actually feels like an organic moment between her and her child, oh, it is just. So. Refreshing.

This image, which was bravely shared for a BabyCenter community contest, is of a mom who had to, well, go, but her baby couldn't wait to eat. Glamorous" No. But I contend that the photo is far more beautiful than the bright, and shiny Instagram snaps we scroll through on a daily basis, and that, quite ...