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Being a mother adds another emotional dimension, a feel for children that I didn't have before I had one. They were a pain before.

I barely saw my mother, and the mom I saw was often angry and unhappy. The mother I grew up with is not the mother I know now. It's not the mother she became after my father died, and that's been the greatest prize of my life.

Motherhood has made me a much better person. I see everything from a new perspective - with a sense of wonderment.

I like to think of myself as a positive person. Otherwise I wouldn't have had a child.

For me, already being part of a single parent household and knowing it was just me and my mom, you'd would wake up times and hope that the next day you'd be able to be alongside your mother because she was out trying to make sure that I was taken care of. But all I cared about was her being home.

On becoming a mother, I sort of feel like every kid is my kid. I really do get that sense in a much more profound way that we all are a global community and we all have to band to try and give the children of our this generation whatever tools we can to go out into this world and try and make it a better place.

Being a new mother was a joyful and sometimes overwhelming experience - and as the first Missouri female state legislator to have a baby while in office, having heath care for myself and my son gave me some needed peace of mind.

I discovered television is a great way to deal with the chaos of new motherhood. I would put the babies to bed and get lost in a trashy reality show.

When I became a mother, there was no doubt in my mind that it would be the most vital and important job I would ever have because I knew firsthand what it was like not to have a mother.