The Battles of a Busy Mother

I am a very busy mum. There's no other way to describe it. I'm studying an English degree (why I did not expect such a vast reading list I will never know), volunteering as a teaching assistant for a year two class, planning a wedding, trying to be a good friend/partner/daughter/sister and best of all looking after my somewhat demanding little girl.
            I love all of it. I am aware of how lucky I am to be able to say that but I do. Its exhausting and from time to time I will complain but each individual part of my schedule I adore. Don't get me wrong, it's a juggle. I have wedding plans with splashes of homemade spaghetti on them. We wash clean clothes over and over again because I either didn't get them from the washer to the dryer in time, or didn't put them away in time and can't remember if they are washed or not. I study on buses, in bed, whilst eating - any time I can cram in it!! Last year I even read Jane Eyre aloud to my one year old whilst she stared at me bewildered and confused. Its chaos and that's exactly what I love.
            But it is an emotional whirlwind. There is a lot of mummy guilt that comes with the territory of being a busy mother. It can be really tough. There is a lot of stigma about parents who put their children in childcare whilst they study/work. You don't have to scroll far through a netmums post about childcare to see a comment asking "why have kids if you're not going to look after them?!"
            Well I tell you why, to make a better life for them. Now, I'm not fighting against stay at home mums. Being a stay at home mum is an AMAZING opportunity for mum and baby but not everyone can afford to stay at home with the children every day. Heck, not everyone can afford that amount of sanity. I could not afford to give my daughter the life I can give her now if I did not go out and earn money. Children deserve the best in life and I want my child to have the best. I want her to be proud of her mum for working towards everything she wanted, I want her to be inspired to do everything she wants to do no matter how hard it is, I want her to break gender stereotypes and I want her to have the real BARBIE doll and not some knock off we had to make do with because I didn't go to work.
            I do love everything that I do. I may struggle at times and I may even cry at times but I LOVE it. It's easy to feel like "less of a mother"(as if parenthood is something that can be quantified) when you don't get to spend as much time with or do all of the same things as a stay at home mother but it's not true. It dawned on me today after I'd literally been weed on and got literal shite up my arm I'm no less a mother because I spend time away from my child. Not in her eyes. Its me who cuddles her when she's sick or scared or pretending to be scared because she has a clear vocation in drama. I may love everything that I do but everything that I do is for her and her well being. She is my best friend whether she is in my arms or playing happily with other children while I earn money for her Christmas presents.
Being a busy mother can be a battle of emotions, but it doesn't have to be. We're all just doing what is best for our family.