I was surprised recently when one of these “get to know me” emails came around. One of the questions asked if you've knowingly left the house with food soiled clothing. The question was not at all a surprise to me, but the fact that more than a few women answered “no” to it left me flabbergasted. Am I the only one who is covered in my baby's food daily and thinks nothing of it? Surely I'm not alone.

I've done much worse than leaving the house with food stains. When I first gave birth to my son, changing a boy's diaper was very much a learning experience. There were more days than I'll admit when, after being sprayed during a diaper change, I evaluated how bad it really was and left the house in my damp clothing rather than create more laundry for myself. I knew that by the end of the day my shirt would have had sticky, toddler hands wiped on it, baby spit up dropped on it and quite possibly a lactating breast leaked on it. What was the point of wasting one of the few shirts that fit my ever-changing body?

As a mom of young children, personal hygiene seems to go out the window. Well, at least your own personal hygiene – you would never let your kids be anything less than clean as little whistles. But in order to take a shower, you need to give up a few minutes of your precious time off, time when your kids are either sleeping or otherwise occupied. Washing and even eating, for that matter, are not always top on the list of things to do with your limited time alone. The secret to losing baby weight that nobody tells people without kids is simply not taking the time to eat…it works beautifully!

When you do have time without your kids, you relish your shower. You may even shave your legs and exfoliate. You love wearing your dry-clean-only clothes without worry that anyone will dirty them. You spend your day as a clean, fed adult and enjoy every second of it. But, you also spend a large portion of that time wondering what the kids are doing and knowing that you will absolutely cherish your time with them again, whether clean or not.