Mama Is My Name, Oh?

I have been a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, a friend, a student, a professional, a wife, and a mother, among other things. My name is Heather. My mother, my peers, my acquaintances, and my co-workers have called me by this name for 36 years. My siblings had other choice names for me, and my grandmother called me Heather Feather Fiddily Fart and Matilda (both, for reasons unknown). My students called me Miss...and Mrs... My friends had all kinds of fun nicknames for me, as friends often do.

When I became a wife my name became Honey, Sweetheart, or Babe... But since becoming a mother, I have three new names - Mommy, Mom, and Mama, also known as (or heard as) MOMMMMMYYYYYY, MOOOOOOMMMM, and MAAAMMMAAAAAA! I have been a mother for 3 years, 3 months, and 23 days to a three year old daughter, and a 3 month old son. I spent approximately 7 months of that time teaching my daughter to say my names - "Say mommy. Say mom. Say mama." However, I didn't expect that my husband would also call me by these names. (He must have been subliminally catching on to the lessons I was giving to our daughter.) I dated a guy in high school whose parents did this. Of course, I was much younger, and thought that it was just so uncool. Then when my husband started calling me by these names I thought it was endearing and sweet. That's who I am, after all. But is that all I am? I am still Heather, right? Right? Right? My daughter calls my husband, her father, Dad (Daddy), but she balances that title nicely with his actual name. We correct her often, but as you'll read in other posts, there are bigger fish to fry with this girl than what she calls her father. We choose our battles, and we know that she's not doing it out of disrespect. She does it because that's what she hears me call him. (She has also called him Babe and Honey.) So, he's still Martin, and I'm Mom. This blog is not about my disdain for being a mom. It's an avenue to vent, to share, to motivate myself, and to discover things about myself, hopefully in the blanket of humor and transparency. I may have only one follower...my husband, but I still thought I'd give it a shot, because among the many things I love doing, including being Mom, Mommy, and Mama, I love writing too.