The Thing About Moms is That They’re Heroes, Too

It’s almost Mother’s Day (HINT: IT’S THIS SUNDAY. WE REPEAT, THIS SUNDAY!) and we think we have some of the coolest moms on the block over here at BUBS Naturals. BUBS exists because of a hero, Glen “BUBS” Doherty, who bravely served at home and abroad for values he held dear. At BUBS, we think the parents that work for us are heroes, too. This Mother’s Day, we asked a few of our Moms at BUBS to share their stories of general maternal badassery. 

Lexie Sandvig is our newest mom, with a twelve-week-old little girl who came out a poster child for BUBS Collagen. She was born with a mullet, the cutest little mullet at that, and we like to think it's because mom keeps up with her collagen regime.

“Well I'm a new mom, so most of my funniest and most memorable moments so far involve a lot of poop, but I will spare you those messy details. The miracle of giving birth is still blowing my mind and one of my favorite parts was keeping the gender of our baby a surprise...Having my husband tell me ‘it's a girl!’ upon her delivery was the absolutely best! I highly recommend skipping the gender reveal party and gifting yourself with the most amazing moment of surprise life can give you. I love seeing my daughter laugh and develop a little sense of humor. Lately, I spend a lot of time sticking my tongue out at her and snorting like a pig because she thinks it's hilarious.”

Then we’ve got Katie Hayes, the better half of the Hayes team here at BUBS Naturals, who has her Mom game down after dialing in how to manage two kids at once out in public. 

Ryan and Katie have two daughters, Vivienne and Margot. One day, after swimming lessons, Vivienne demanded she get herself changed, wet bathing suit be damned. Mom remembers, “So I obliged and let her finish the job. She had to put her wet bathing suit completely back on before taking it off once again. Which if you have ever tried to put a wet bathing suit back on you understand how difficult that is. She got so frustrated she took it off completely. She was now nude! Oh and I brought the wrong underwear. I brought the princess underwear and she wanted the Ariel underwear.”

Of course she brought the wrong underwear. Of course.

After young Vivienne lost her composure, she spent some time on the ground crying and rolling around on the wet cement surrounding the pool completely naked, climbing from a level 5 tantrum to a level 10. “The entire pool area of children and parents can't help but stare at the craziness that is unfolding. All I hear is gasps from other parents in between screams from my child. She is a crying snotty disaster who can't regain composure if her life depended on it.” But Katie let her do what she needed to do, because it had nothing to do with the swimsuit or the princess underwear and everything to do with the brand new baby sister. “It wasn't me taking her bathing suit off or bringing the wrong underwear or outfit. It was her mourning the loss of having her mom all to herself.”

Eventually, Katie thought maybe they had hit the “enough” mark. “So I did what I had to do. I picked up my nude child surfboard style. grabbed my infant daughter who was in her car seat carrier and I walked out of that place as calm as I could with every person watching my every move. Of Course, Vivienne calmed down the moment we got to our car. And Margot slept through the whole thing, totally unfazed by what happened.”

Vivienne and Margot are great friends now. Sometimes, Katie will find Viv in Margot's crib in the morning and they will be playing or "reading" books together. 

As for me, I have three boys, all boys, and as a single mom they keep me on my toes and up to my knees in grocery bills and fart jokes. My oldest son, Tomas, after a few touch and go moments in high school (will he graduate, won’t he graduate, it was a fun little game we played) had been accepted to a school in Colorado on a marching band scholarship. (They exist.) I had packed him up, gotten him settled in on campus, outfitted his dorm and then I just….left. I just left my first born on a college campus in another state and I went home without him. 

I was so proud of him, who wouldn’t be? He had a great first year, accepting a second year of scholarship to return. Except halfway through his Sophomore year, something was off. My Mom senses were tingling. He lacked the excitement over his instruments that had fueled him before. He complained about schoolwork that used to fire him up. He just wanted to play music, he didn’t want to take a thousand courses he couldn’t wrap his head around because he “was supposed to.” He’d stay up all night in the practice rooms, then be too tired for his Gen. Ed. business course. Tomas loved music, not college. 

Eventually, he vocalized that he wanted to come home. I encouraged him to stay there and see if he could finish the semester, we could reassess then. He told me he would try. I made surprise trips from Southern California to Denver, Colorado to rally his spirits. Nothing worked. One day, he called me and just flatly said, “Mom I want to come home. It’s not for me.”

Okay, I said. I am on my way, I said. And I headed out there to my kid, who tried a thing and discovered it wasn’t for him. He was nervous I would be angry, sad, disappointed, ashamed. 

I took him to breakfast instead.

We packed up the car, and we said Onward! And we talked the whole way home, eating pizza and road snacks, drinking too much gas station coffee and I sang loudly and terribly with the windows down. I was so proud of him. Who wouldn’t be?

At BUBS, we believe in Moms that let their kids struggle, that let their kids learn on their own, in Moms that show up, and in beautiful babies that come into the world with mullets fueled by collagen.

From all of us at BUBS, happy Mother’s Day to all the versions of Moms out there. Ya’ll are heroes, too.