Will the real Watts family please stand up?

Actually, they're both real. You're likeliest to catch Family One for about three hours on Sunday or on a few other special occasions. The rest of the time, look for Family Two. We're happy either way.

Nothing you can read could ever prepare you for the feelings, the challenges, and the excitements of having children. But the strategies presented in the delightful book can help you cope when you're up to your eyeballs in peanut butter and science projects and mismatched socks.

In Being the Mom, you'll learn some practical strategies for building a strong family that can be comfortable in a variety of situations. Beyond that, you'll figure out how to keep a healthy perspective and your sanity. Strategy 3, for example, "Be discerning: sometimes a one-mile effort is enough," gives mom's license to save their best efforts for the times when they really matter. "Be grateful for the things you have to do" is a gentle reminder that commitment is not such a bad thing. And in "Remember that the years fly by, even though some of the days are mighty long," you'll learn to treasure the wonderful blessing that come with each stage of mothering.

From is often hilarious and always helpful perspective from a real, live mom you'll find that with a lot of love, and a good sense of humor, "being the Mom" can be done lots of ways. Your way may just be better than you thought! Most of all, this with lighten mothers' hearts and make them glad they chose the life they did.