The images that sum up what motherhood ACTUALLY looks like (and you know it’s true!)

Motherhood is crazy.

It is crazy busy and crazy filled with love and just, well, crazy.

We all know it.

And yet so often, it is hard to put into words just how crazy our days really are – because for someone looking at it from the outside in, well, they never really see the full picture now, do they?

I got thinking about this recently, when someone I was taking a walk through a park with made a snide remark about a mum who was pushing a stroller around while also scrolling on her phone. Now – don’t get me wrong; I fully think we all need to put our phones away more, for sure. But – and this is the thing I told my pal who made the remark about the lady in the park – we have no idea how her morning had been – or why she was on the phone in the first place. Maybe her baby has eczema and she was googling what products to buy to treat it? Or maybe she had a leak in her kitchen and was looking for the number of a plumber? Maybe she is researching the next-size-up car seat? Or maybe, just maybe, she had spent her morning fully focused on feeding, changing, cuddling and playing with her baby – and now, when the baby was finally asleep for a blessed few minutes, she just wanted a quick scroll through Instagram to literally just zone out for a few minutes, while also knowing her baby was safe, sound and getting some fresh air in the process?

Bottom line – not our phone, not our baby, not our place to judge.

I recently came across the Instagram account of Paula Kuka – and she somehow has managed to capture all this with her beautiful illustrations, which are full of universal truths about motherhood.

Like this one, which literally illustrated my whole point above:

 

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I spent yesterday feeling a little angry and powerless about a particular cartoon by a well-known Australian cartoonist. . Today I realised I might be angry, but I’m not powerless. This is my response. . (In case you missed it, it was to do with the recent spate of babies falling out of prams and being abandoned by mothers too busy checking Instagram ??‍♀️).

Et innlegg delt av Paula Kuka (@common_wild) Okt. 25, 2019 kl. 1:52 PDT

Kuka is the creative mama behind the artwork on the Common Wild Instagram page, and let’s just say, you will feel as if she has literally taken a sneak peek inside your head.

 

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Apparently it’s international coffee day which is a bit ridiculous because surely every day is international coffee day!? ?‍♀️☕ For all my tired friends… We are tired but we are tough. Don’t you forget it. ??

Et innlegg delt av Paula Kuka (@common_wild) Okt. 1, 2019 kl. 3:04 PDT

The funny and on-point illustrations are a collection of ‘mum-musings’ or in other words, she draws what she thinks and feels, and I just love how real she is keeping it:

 

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Dinner time. Every night. ??

Et innlegg delt av Paula Kuka (@common_wild) Juli 9, 2019 kl. 3:48 PDT

While some of the illustrations are laugh-out-loud hilarious, others are almost painful, they are that real, and will really make you feel less alone in this crazy thing that is motherhood:

 

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I know this drawing probably works without words. But after posting some translated cartoons yesterday in my stories I received lots of messages from people saying they LOVED seeing it in their native tongue. Maybe it spoke to them even more. Maybe they felt LESS alone! So I decided to see how many languages I can get this one translated into. Instagram will only let me do 10 at a time so this is just the start. ? Also, I’ve never asked this before but I thought this would be a good opportunity to find out where you are all from?? (Instagram statistics only tell me the top 5 countries). ? I would LOVE to hear from anyone whose first language is not one of these 10, so I can call on you for translation. Let’s cover the globe!!!! ? So here we have English, Thai, Filipino, French, Russian, Portuguese, Danish, Macedonian, Afrikaans, Finnish. ? Big thank you to my team of expert translators. ? Edit: yes there is a typo in the French. We are all (somewhat sleep-deprived) human. Hopefully it doesn’t detract from the power of the message. Obviously I can’t edit it now it’s posted.

Et innlegg delt av Paula Kuka (@common_wild) Juni 7, 2019 kl. 3:07 PDT

I mean; if you have ever tried to put a baby who didn’t want to into a car seat into a car seat, you will no doubt know this feeling:

 

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Why do you suddenly have so many limbs?????? ??

Et innlegg delt av Paula Kuka (@common_wild) Mai 21, 2019 kl. 2:01 PDT