The Story of a Mother Who Destroys the Perfect Mom Routine

I love mornings, which is a good thing since the Today Show starts early. Those first hours set the tone for the day ahead. We're here to give you the best start. You get the news, learn something new, and even get a little boost. You start the day off with a clean slate and we hope you'll start it with us. We begin our day so you can take on yours because every day meets today.

Watch the Today Show weekday mornings at seven on NBC. Mother's Day is just around the corner, and if you're wondering what to get the special mom in your life, the gift of sound is always a winner. Lucky for you, you can get a Vizio V-Series sound bar for less than $200 at Walmart right now. With Dolby Audio and DTS Virtual X technology, this system delivers room-filling sound for all her favorites. Ready for a living room dance party? You know she'll be streaming her favorite music and radio on the iHeart Radio app.

This deal won't be around forever, so get yourself to Walmart today. Let's talk fashion. Whether you're looking for a sexy weekend look or a versatile blazer, the latest collection at Ashley Stewart is just for you. Ashley Stewart has been outfitting style-obsessed women in sizes 10 through 36 since 1991. We've perfected the art of complementing your curves since always. From new denim, dresses, modern workwear, and more, runway-ready styles for every mood and occasion. Time to stop settling and start celebrating.

Shop the latest trends in sizes 10 through 36 now in stores and at ashleystewart.com. And we return to our American stories and our special Mother's Day celebration. Tiffany Jenkins is a wife and a mother of three. She's acquired a huge social media following on her blog Juggling the Jenkins where her videos receive millions of views.

Tiffany wrote a highly successful memoir, High Achiever, the shocking true story of one addict's double life. Here's Tiffany Jenkins with the rest of her story and what it means to be a good mom. You know what I want to talk about today? I want to talk about what it means to be a good mom, okay?

Because listen, if you look on social media and YouTube, okay, let's take YouTube for example. They have tons of videos of families announcing pregnancies to their loved ones, right? And it's always so joyous and everybody's so excited and screaming and yelling and they're like, oh my god, finally, thank you.

Look at these little booties. I'm going to have a grandkid, okay? That was not how my pregnancy announcement went at all. I had been living in a halfway house for two months and I started dating this guy and I got an overnight pass, okay? One weekend. I got one overnight pass. I'm not going to go into detail about what happened on the overnight pass but let's just say that two weeks later my body started acting a little weird. I didn't have a job or a car at the time so I scraped together some quarters and walked my butt down to the Dollar Tree and bought a pregnancy test and guess what? There was a baby in my belly.

I took a pregnancy test in the bathroom of the halfway house I was living at with six other women and when the second line popped up, I collapsed on the floor and lost my mind. It was not joyous. I was not excited.

I was terrified. I had just started gaining trust back with my family. What was I going to tell them?

How was I going to tell the owner of the halfway house that I abused the one overnight pass they finally gave me? What was I going to do? I couldn't even take care of myself.

How was I going to take care of a child? I was terrified. I prayed out and I said, listen, technically, physically, I know why this happened but like spiritually and mentally, I don't know why this happened.

Please help me. What am I supposed to do? I can't have this baby and it was in that moment that I realized suddenly I wanted this baby more than I ever wanted anything in my entire life. I told my sister.

She was basically like, okay, you're an idiot. I told the owner of the halfway house and he could have kicked me out but he didn't. He let me live there and pay rent until I could get on my feet. So I married the man who got me pregnant five months after we started dating and I continued to live in the halfway house up until near the end of my pregnancy. My recovery didn't stop just because I was pregnant. I had to keep working on myself. I got a job, busted my butt, got a car, we got an apartment, and my son was born on my birthday.

It was the greatest gift that I've ever received. When my son was six months old, I found out I was pregnant with the cloister. She burst into the world a colicky fury of tears and chaos and I got postpartum depression. Two weeks after she was born, my bonus daughter came to live with us full time and I was battling postpartum depression full on. I went from being a single sexy bachelorette living in a halfway house to a married mother of three in the span of two years. Okay, when it comes to motherhood, I have no clue what I'm doing. I don't.

I don't. In the beginning, when I was suffering from postpartum depression, I used to go to social media for support and I, you know, to try to see what other people were doing because I had no clue. And I quickly realized that it seemed like everybody else had their life together while mine was crumbling. Everybody's home looked beautiful while mine looked like a hurricane just ripped through the living room. All the moms were posing with their babies looking so perfect and wonderful while I wanted to leave mine in the crib and run out the front door and never come back. I can't explain what that did to me internally as a person. It made me feel like a failure.

It made me feel ashamed and embarrassed. It made me feel like maybe I wasn't meant to be a mom. There was one day, one day especially where I resented my children just for existing. I didn't want to take care of them anymore. I didn't want to be a mom anymore.

So, I called my doctor crying and I said, is it bad that I don't want the kids anymore? And they said, come into the office right now. And they got me in that day and the doctor and I worked on a recovery plan for me. Once I started to feel better, I started to write and I wrote for numerous reasons. I wrote because it was really therapeutic for me to tell my truth and to get it out of my head and onto paper. And I chose to share my writing because everywhere I looked, everything looked so perfect. So, I thought maybe if there's just one person out there who's feeling the same way as me, they can read what I've written and see that they're not alone.

And that's where Juggling the Jenkins was born. A good mom is not measured by her ability to keep a clean home. Some people have more money than other people.

Some people have more possessions than other people but none of that matters. Life is going to go by like this. It's going to be over before you know it and I promise you that it is not going to say anywhere in your obituary, her house was really clean. We gotta stop stressing about the little stuff. We gotta stop wasting time beating ourselves up over the little stuff and start spending more time creating memories with our kids, taking them places, putting our phones down, chilling with them, going outside.

When they come up to you and they say, mommy, will you play with me instead of saying just a second, just get up and play with them because I can promise you that neither of you will ever regret that decision. I have to remind myself of this daily. I'm the queen of in just a minute, babe. I'm the queen.

I do it all day long. So I have to remind myself that that minute will never come and I know that and they know that so it is up to me to make the minutes count now. What makes a good mom?

I don't think there's one answer. A good mom is somebody who doesn't spend hours obsessing about how they aren't good enough. A good mom is somebody who recognizes that they have a problem and does whatever they can to fix it, whether it be addiction, alcoholism, anger, depression, whatever it is, is recognizing that you have a problem, realizing that nobody is gonna come save you and doing whatever you can to make sure that you are the best possible mom for those kids. Taking action makes a good mom. But it all boils down to love. Being a shining example to the kids of what love is about. Showing them love and showing others love.

As often as possible. That's that's what makes a good mom. And that was Tiffany Jenkins you were listening to and what a voice and so straight.

Straight as an arrow. And by the way, that line in the beginning, what was I gonna do? I can't take care of myself. How am I gonna take care of this child? By the way, we're never ready to raise a kid. I've had so many people say, I'm not ready. Well, you're never ready. And she jumped in and raised this child and what great advice and moms, good ones and good fathers do this too.

Show them love and show others love as often as possible. I have no idea what I'm doing. She also said, and you know what none of us do Mother's Day stories. Tiffany Jenkins story here on our American stories. State Farm is committed to being your top choice when ensuring the things that matter to you. My culture podcast host dramas also believes in the power of financial knowledge. That's why he makes sure to share his financial tips on his podcast life as a gringo when it comes to investments and it's real estate. I didn't want to just buy a house. I wanted to buy a property that also made me money. You know, so I ended up buying an investment property a mixed use property like a good neighbor State Farm is there learn more at ES State Farm.com State Farm is a proud partner of the Michael Dura podcast network.

I'm Malcolm Grandpa. I live way out in the country. I drive everywhere and you know what scares me? That feeling of finding myself stuck on the side of the road. But now, all of us can avoid that pain by getting our vehicle the part it needs before that breakdown.

Oh no moment. With eBay Guaranteed Fit and over 122 million parts and accessories, you can make sure your ride stays running smoothly. For the parts and accessories that fit your vehicle, just look for the green check. Get the right parts, the right fit, and the right prices.

Ebaymotors.com Let's ride. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.

Get ready. Xfinity Flex has unlocked shows and movies from all over the globe and you can watch for free right from your couch. Journey to Japan with shows from Anime Network. Go back to the Wild West with Billy the Kid and other MGM Plus picks.

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with hits from Kokawa and Haya and break out your dance moves with I Heart Radio's Kpop Hits playlist. Find new entertainment on Xfinity Flex. All for free. No strings attached. Say free this week into your Xfinity Voice Remote.