I’m a huge pop culture fan. I regularly read People and Entertainment Weekly. The lives of celebrities are somewhat interesting to me. I do not, however, think of celebrities as role models, especially when it comes to parenting.

There’s a group of women in Hollywood that I call celebumoms. This is the word I use to describe big stars that are mothers. America has a growing fascination with them. First of all there are the bad or questionable celebumoms – Britney Spears is probably the poster child for this group. She seems to be digging her way out of this.

For some reason, America has a misguided notion about so-called “good” celebumoms – Angelina Jolie, Katie Holmes and Julia Roberts are examples. People assume that because we see these starlets hauling their kids around like accessories, they are excellent moms. That may or may not be true.

What is definitely true is the fact that these Hollywood leading ladies have help…LOTS of help. They have nannies just waiting to grant their every wish. Thinking back on when my kids were babies, if I had that kind of help, I would have looked a lot better and been far less crabby. Just imagine the sleep I could have had!

What drives me nuts is when I read quotes describing stars as “hands-on” mothers or “really connected” to their kids. If by “really connected” you mean viewing the children at least once a day, then yes, they are connected.

Just once, I’d like to read an interview with a celebumom where she says: “You know what, I haven’t slept or showered in a week. I’m constantly on the verge of tears and have no clue what day it is. Oh and I can only fit into maternity clothes. Yeah, it kinda sucks.” Does that mean she’s a good mom? No. But it means that she’s a real mom and that’s far more interesting to me.

This morning, I opened my eyes at 4:45 am. Yes, of course I went back to sleep. But finally, I gave in and crawled out of bed at 5:00 am. Why, you ask? Because I am smack dab in the middle of my own personal "March Madness."

You see, 2009 was humming along nicely. Sure, I had the typical "Mom" things to deal with - laundry, cooking, driving, attending meetings - a volunteer gig here or there. But it was well-spaced out. I had time in-between most of these things. Enough time to breathe, that is.

Suddenly, it's mid-March and those great and powerful forces have collided. I have too much to do in too little time. I won't list everything because I guarantee that there are many of you whose list would dwarf mine. I get that.

My point is that my to-do list is waking me up, pre-dawn. Instead of dreaming of warm beaches, I'm trying to figure out what to cook tomorrow night that can be eaten (neatly) in a car on the way from play practice to the college night meeting. And can I get the key to the school refrigerator before or after I drop off the smelly dog for grooming? And top it off with wishing the economy would boom so that my college senior could quickly find a job after graduation. Sigh.

The thing is, I know I'll get it all done...somehow, and probably not well, but it'll be finished. I should sleep when I can't do anything about my list. But that's not how I operate. Sleep deprivation seems to be the way I roll. Yawn....Note to self: Fill out NCAA brackets before Thursday!

Yesterday, I had a poopy conversation with a friend. No, it wasn’t a bad conversation. In fact, I found it entertaining. It was a conversation that will only occur between two moms. We talked about potty training and how gross it all can be.

Of course, it’s been MANY years since I’ve potty trained, but honestly, it’s just as hard today as it was back then. Sure, you SAY your child has been potty trained, but really, that’s when the hard work begins, right?

After my kids were potty trained, this is what I remember saying to them CONSTANTLY for months:  “Do you have to go? Need to go potty? Let’s go potty. How about if we try to go potty before we leave? Are you SURE you don’t have to go?” Ad nauseum. Honestly, I annoyed myself, but I couldn’t stop it.

Worse yet, no matter how good you are at potty training, unless you live in a house that is fully tiled – floor to ceiling with a drain in every room and plastic on all of the furniture, there will be accidents. It’s part of the deal. And it kinda sucks, don’t you agree?

And yet, to me, there’s nothing more reassuring than knowing that some things in motherhood have never changed. We still struggle with the same basic challenges – day to day, year to year. What breaks us down is when the challenges rise up and overwhelm us – like poopy pants at the most inconvenient time.

What builds us up is that we, as moms, always rally together, share our experiences and become stronger for that. God bless moms. God bless poopy conversations.

This past weekend, I chaperoned a choir trip to Disney World. Although the thought of warm weather was enticing, mine is not typically the first hand up when it comes to chaperone duties. I love kids, but I’m best at dealing with them one or two at a time. I’m the mom that doesn’t mind stuffing envelopes instead of doing playground duty or going to the pumpkin farm. Hide me in an office instead of on the bus with the kids. Truth be told, I’m not good with drama from other people’s kids.

But this was a different situation. It was a choir of all girls – 14 of them in all, including my daughter. They seemed like really nice kids, between the ages of 15 and 18. Then again, I’ll totally admit that I was cautiously optimistic at best. You never know with kids – especially girls. Will they be mean? Will they obsess over their hair? Will they fight with each other? Will they run around outside our hotel rooms all night long? Will they ostracize each other so that the quiet ones end up hanging with the chaperones?

Miracles of miracles, none of that happened. They were really nice. Sure, there were a few latecomers every day and I don’t even want to tell you how messy their hotel rooms became. (God bless the housekeeping service. They earned their paycheck this weekend.) But I have to say, this was the perfect trip to chaperone. There was virtually no drama.

You know what that means? The next trip I chaperone will be awful, just awful. I'm counting on it.

I realize that most of you have kids that are younger than mine, but it’s probably a safe bet that you also have school age children. Here’s what I think we have in common right now – your kids (and mine) have hit the Mid-Fall Brick Wall.

Here in our house, I’m dealing with a high school daughter. At the beginning of the school year she was (surprisingly) excited to go back to school. She said she missed being on a regular schedule and was anxious to get back and see her friends. She decorated her binders and made her annual vow to make the honor roll. Like all good things, I knew this wouldn’t last.

She’s into the performing arts and had committed to be in her school musical and two school choirs. Pretty quickly, rehearsals started happening fast and furious. And, because it’s high school, the homework increased too. Then, one of several bouts with the common cold started. The icing on the cake was the drop in temperatures and the onset of dark evenings.

Pretty soon, I think it was mid-October, I had to scrape her daily motivation and energy off the floor. Mornings started becoming a battle of wills and a struggle for both of us. A simple request of: “Mom, would you mind waking me up tomorrow morning?” soon turned into me begging, cajoling and bribing with a morning hot chocolate laced with a shot of coffee.

You think the Terrible Twos are bad? Try the Surly Sixteens. They’re not for the faint of heart.

I’m not sure what I expected motherhood to be like, but this is just another on a long list of things that I’m glad nobody warned me about. If I had known that my days would revolve around a mercurial adolescent, perhaps I would have chosen pets?

Right now, the school burnout level is at an all-time high. I’m getting information on a need-to-know basis (barely), the tension level is all over the place and my maternal mojo is way out of whack. I long for those days when a hug and a juice box would fix everything.

How about you? Are your kids losing their beginning of the school year excitement and enthusiasm? Is everyone getting a little cranky at this time of the year?