Failure?

Last weekend a friend of mine who works outside the home told me she's been thinking of me lately. In a nutshell, she has been home on maternity leave with her newborn and has had a tough time balancing taking care of a baby and a toddler at the same time. She said she goes to bed each night feeling like a failure because she hasn't been able to give her full attention to either child. She then said she realized that I must feel like a failure every day because I'm home all the time and that this must be so damaging to my psyche.

Um, thanks?

Needless to say, I've been thinking about the concept of failure quite a bit since that uplifting and life-affirming exchange. My friend has a point. Am I devoting as much of my day to Cameron's development as I used to with Nora? No. Are there times when I'm changing Cam, or feeding Cam or chasing after Cam and Nora is begging me to play with her? Yes. Do I feel awful? Yup. But I know deep down I'm not a failure. Especially lately. Cam has become more of a human and truly enjoys his interactions with Nora. They're buddies. And who knows how their relationship with grow over time, but they will always have each other. And for that I am not a failure.