We’ve all been there. The toddler spilled his milk all over the wood floor, the baby’s screaming because she dropped her pacifier, you haven’t showered and forgot to turn on the coffee pot. And it’s only 6 am.

There are so many parts of parenting that are hard. Messes to clean up, budgets to balance, and tough decisions to be made about car seats, daycares, feeding, and so on.  Sometimes it feels right.  Other times, we wonder whether we’re doing it completely wrong.  It’s all part of the journey. But one thing we can all agree on is it’s so worth it.

At Oakhurst, we’ve always seen our role as supporting moms and dads as they sacrifice their own time to raise happy, healthy kids.  And like you, in our own small way, we at Oakhurst are faced with choices and decisions.  Whether it’s the little decisions like supporting food drives, community sponsorships, and donations to fund a children’s museum, or the bigger things – like being the first to say NO to artificial Growth Hormone in our milk… and standing up to Monsanto when they challenged our First Farmer’s Pledge.  We believe our actions are expressions of our values and our commitment to do right by the next generation.

The #SoWorthIt idea originated from these shared values.  We know you make choices and sacrifices every day to care for your kids and to stand up for what you believe in.  We know you put everything on the line to do right by them.  And in the end, we know that you know that it’s all #SoWorthIt. So the goal of #SoWorthIt is simply to serve as a reminder that amidst all the chaos, exhaustion and unrelenting self-doubt, the unexpected kisses and snuggles are totally, irrefutably, indisputably #SoWorthIt.

When we asked ourselves, how can we play a role in making life easier for parents, we came to the fast conclusion that the best way to help another parent is to connect them with other parents. Real stories. Real advice. Real life. So we’d like to introduce you to a couple of amazing moms from Maine and New Hampshire.  We’re calling them our #SoWorthIt Mom Ambassadors.  Their names are Rebecca Spear of Mainely Mama and Angela Paris of Juggling Act Mama. Rebecca is a mom of two energetic young boys and the wife of a lobsterman who’s running a crazy, busy household and trying to keep everyone healthy, safe, and sane. Angela (Ang) is a super busy mom to two young children and a wife who says she thrives on juggling hundreds of things at once.

In the coming months, they will share tips, recipes, giveaways and more on their blogs (and of course on the Oakhurst Facebook and Instagram pages). So be on the lookout – the fun starts in July.  We hope you’ll chat with them, make friends with them (on social media and in real life!) and share with them, and with us, your sweetest, funniest, happiest and most frustrating parenting moments.

Recently, we took a moment to ask them both this question: What makes being a mom #soworthit to you? Here’s what they had to say:

Rebecca: The journey to and through motherhood has been the most challenging experience of my life, it’s tested me in more ways than I thought possible, but being a mom is also by far the most rewarding and amazing experience and far exceeds anything I could have imagined.  Some days I feel exhausted and discouraged but there are always those moments that make it #SoWorthIt!  It’s usually the little things: when I see my boys becoming best buddies and caring for one and other, when I see them be a good friend, when we can spend an unstructured day as a family, and when I tuck the little rascals in at night and read stories and get hugs and kisses, it makes the craziness of the day SO worth it. 

Ang: On the “good days,” being a mom is easy.  It’s all fun and smiles and hugs and happiness, right?  Spending quality time with my family is my favorite thing to do, but we all know not every day is perfect.  We get but a handful of those.  It’s the challenging days that put it all into perspective for me.  The days when no one wants to listen, the days with tears or yelling, or the days when you just want to go back to bed and start over. Being a mom is the hardest job I have ever had – and the most rewarding one, too.  There is no substitute for an unprompted hug or impromptu “I love you” from your child, and that’s what makes it all worth it to me. Every day I remind myself that my children will only be this exact age today; tomorrow they will be a day older – and that much closer to being ‘all grown up.’  Today with my children is a precious gift.  There are magical ‘perfect’ moments in every day, and finding them is part of the joy of being a mother.

What makes raising a family #SoWorthIt for you?