She Inspires | Amanda Rodriquez, Creator of DudeMom.com

I had the recent privilege of joining an amazing group of bloggers (seriously, I’ve stalked followed their sites for years) in L.A. for a fun event. I met Amanda Rodriquez, creator of DudeMom.com, after becoming a fan a few years ago. She was kind and funny and I was envious of her shoe game the whole trip. I had to feature her on the site because I need you to get to know her too if you don’t already follow her (and you totally should).

Amanda Rodriguez, creator of DudeMom.com

How many kids?:

Three boys, ages 13, 10, 7

When I found out I was pregnant with my first child I felt:

SCARED. I did NOT want to tell my parents. I was living on my own and graduated college, but still the whole “Mom, Dad, I’m pregnant” talk was freaking me out. I wasn’t married and I was just so afraid they’d be disappointed. They weren’t and they SO love my boys. I call my mom when she has them and she pretends she no habla ingles because she doesn’t want me to come get them.

I blog at DudeMom.com because:

I am not a dude (so many people think I am a guy who is also a mom). I am the only woman (aside from the dog who totally counts) in a house filled with boys. I have three sons who I have affectionately called The Dudes for years. Even the community we live in calls them that now.

Whenever I have a moment of free time I look forward to:

Stalking my exes on Facebook? No, kidding. I did that like one time. I have very little free time. I run two businesses and manage the Dudes so, like many other moms, free time means I am actually doing something I need to do instead of something I want to do. One of the only things I make time for is my workouts. I do Bang and Zumba and I love it.

On really tough days I cope by:

Eating chocolate in my bathroom. It solves likes 98% of my problems or calms the worry wart part of my brain enough that I don’t care.

If my kids can only remember one thing I taught them, I hope it’s:

Be kind. Love your brother. And when you get rich remember your mama made you.

My mommy superpower is:

Mind reading. Although I think it’s the whole being a woman thing, I can smell a lying dude from across the room. Also, my kids are convinced I have spies at their schools who tell them every single thing they do. No, sir, you’re just not THAT original and figuring you out is not even hard.

The most surprising thing about motherhood is:

How few regrets I have. I didn’t start my mothering journey the way I wanted and I make mistakes many times literally everyday with my kids. So much of it is hard and I spend a lot of time doubting myself and rethinking my choices and flying by the seat of my pants. And, every now and then I think oh, maybe I should’ve done this or that differently, but over all there are few things I would change about this life of ours. Small note: watermelon in a Ziploc bag for lunch is rarely a good idea, and by rarely I mean never. Sticky backpack, ruined homework, ants. Just set the backpack on fire and kiss it goodbye.

My piece of advice to a mother who might be struggling right now is:

Cry. Lock yourself in the bathroom and scream. And then ask for help. You don’t have to put on a brave face and pretend that you’re doing it all and loving it. That is the reality for so few of us and we have all been somewhere struggling at some point. Asking for help doesn’t make you weak, it makes you strong and smart and people who judge you for doing so are just mad because they didn’t think of it. Or mean. And ain’t nobody got time for that.

I know for sure I’m passionate about:

Beyond my kids? Equal educational opportunities and youth sports safety.

If I could have/invent one item to make motherhood easier it would be:

A time machine. Then I could zip to the future and see if my joining a dance off in front of the movie theater a couple weeks ago was as detrimental and life altering as my 7th grader makes it seem. Not that I would care—it was “Thriller,” y’all. I’m never passing that up.

My personal motto is:

Choose joy.