I missed my first son's first Easter Egg Hunt at daycare because I had to be at work. Sure, it might not seem like a big deal but, to me, it was. His teacher sent me pictures of him sprinting across her yard in hot pursuit of an egg, and it made me melt. It also broke my heart that I couldn't be there to see it or to hold his hand or to help him. It might have been the first thing that I missed and, unfortunately, it probably won't be the last either.

When my first son was born, I went back to work full-time when he was nine weeks old. I worked over an hour away at a busy orthopedic clinic. Usually, I wouldn't be able to leave clinic until after 6:00, and my long drive home would consist of me sitting in heavy traffic. By the time I got home, my son was asleep and my husband was down for the count. It made me feel terrible, even though I was doing all I could do to be there on time. If you're a working mom, you're going to get home late at some point. When you do, try not to beat yourself up over it.

Being a mother isn't an excuse for being late, but I've definitely been late to work because of my kids. I make a valiant effort to be punctual, but kids are unpredictable. You never know when someone is going to lose their shoes or have a mental breakdown, or when an explosive diaper is going to demolish your militant routine. It happens.

Exhaustion is just a part of parenthood. It's something we were all made very aware of as soon as we brought our babies home, but sometimes that exhaustion culminates to a point where parents lose the ability to remain mellow. Essentially, every parent is going to lose their temper. I don't like to yell, but I've definitely done it and I'm sure that I'll do it again. I'm human, and I can only withstand so much before I reach a boiling point and, well, sometimes my kids are standing too close to the pot.

It's a good thing that kids are basically born "parent-proof," because man, do they require a lot of attention. It doesn't take more than two seconds for them to get into something they shouldn't or climb something dangerous or just find themselves in a moment of total mischief.

Sometimes, after a day of working I just want to sit on the couch and close my eyes for five seconds. When I do, however, I always end up regretting it because my kids have most definitely destroyed something as a result. This not only makes my kids feel sad that I'm not paying enough attention to them, but it also makes me sad when I see them feeling neglected.

There's a lot that goes into raising human beings. From doctors appointments, to preschool, to play dates and beyond, being a mother requires the ability to focus on multiple things at once. Guys, that's just when it comes to kids. Being a mother who also works outside of the home requires us to be able to shift our focus from taking care of our kids, to taking care of our business at work and, well, sometimes we lose focus and fall short.

By the time the work day is over and supper is cooked and the kids are bathed and in bed, it feels like my husband and I don't get more than just a few minutes alone with each other. By that time, we're so tired that we sometimes fall asleep on the couch without so much as acknowledging each other's presence. This isn't good for me or him or our kids, but sometimes (not all the time, thankfully) it just happens.

Are you seeing a pattern here? If you're a mother who works in addition to taking care of her children (which is a huge job in the first place), you probably feel like you're spread too thin to even think about "me time." Trying to focus on what seems like a thousand different things at once seems like a contradictory goal, but you have to find some time in your life to take care of yourself, too.

Kids need routines, and adults need schedules, but when you're constantly on the go, maintaining those routines and schedules can be tricky. I try to give my boys as much structure as I can, but sometimes I fail. Having somewhat of a schedule helps to keep us all relatively sane, so when the balance gets thrown off, our house pretty much looks like a circus.

By no means does my husband expect me to be the sole provider of our family's meals, but when I have said that I'll take care of supper, and then I don't, well, it makes me feel like a jerk. Not that the kids don't love ordering pizza (duh), but it's probably not a great indication of our nutritional well-being when the pizza place down the road knows you by name.

I don't like admitting that I've called out of work before because I was just too overwhelmed to deal anymore, but I have. I doubt that I'm alone. Sometimes, trying to find a balance between work and family feels like a an uphill battle. It's hard to prioritize things, when there are too many things that are a top priority. When there are so many things to do, yet such small windows of time to do them all in, it's easy to shut down and do nothing at all. I'm not saying I'm proud, but I'm saying I'm human and, yes, sometimes I shut down.

Being a mother, regardless of whether or not you're a stay-at-home mom or a work-from-home mom or a working mom, is exhausting. It's also frustrating and incredibly difficult to feel like you're succeeding every day.

Women who work from home or outside of the home are especially vulnerable to feeling guilty, because we feel like we aren't succeeding at anything. We feel like we're not being a good enough mother or employee or partner, like no one is getting 100 percent of our efforts or attention, and like everyone is being short changed because of it. However, we can't allow those feelings to consume us. When we spend even a moment second guessing ourselves, or feeling guilty, or doubting our abilities to be the best of anything, whether that's a mother or an employee or a partner, we're wasting precious time that would be better spent enjoying our families. We all make mistakes, and that's okay, but we can't allow our mistakes to define us.