There are all kinds of moms. Fun ones, crazy ones, fun crazy ones, and million more. But one thing they have in common is that they would do anything for their children. Now, not all of these things they do are right (see Tanning Mom), but deep down they want what’s best for their kids (even if it’s not the best for their skin/self esteem/social development). So in honor of Mother’s Day, I have compiled a list of some of my favorite moms.

The thing I love about Claire is she is just a hair away from crazy, which is how I can picture myself being as a mother someday. While she wants to give her kids the world, she also wants to be right always and is never okay with losing. Somehow Julie Bowen makes a character that could be super naggy and annoying really endearing, especially when she looks like this:

So yes, the majority of these ladies fall under the “Worst Moms Ever” category, and should probably stop paying Abby Lee Miller so much because they’re going to need to save some dinero for all the hours of therapy that their kids are going to need later, but Holly is just one step above the rest. First of all, she’s educated, which seems to be one skill that many of the Moms are lacking in. Second, she has an actual job, and although that puts her last on the pyramid in Abby’s eyes, I give her credit for showing her daughter Nia what it’s like to have a job outside of watching children dance for eight hours a day and Sewing Rhinestones 101. Third, she’s one of the few that actually brings up to Abby that 90% of her dances are inappropriate. Of course, there’s no follow through as Nia always ends up dancing in them anyway, but at least she’s not afraid to throw raspy-throated Abby a curveball every once in a while.

There’s an abundance of “mom blogs” on the Internet. I don’t frequent a lot of them because I don’t have a kid or anything, and do not yet need to educate myself about all of the benefits of cloth diapering. However I came across MODG (short for Martinis or Diaper Genies) a while ago and was immediately hooked, going all the way back to her first blogs and reading every entry in order. One of the things I liked about her was that she started her blog when she was trying to decide whether or not it was time she and her husband had a baby. But she also wrote about Suri Cruise, the importance of putting together a good Halloween costume, and all the wonderful things the Bravo channel has to offer. She’s one of the non-schmultzy blogs that is very real about what it’s like to be a half-hippie, half-J. Crew obsessed mother in 2012. And she’s damn funny.

As mentioned before, I will eat anything Bravo serves me on a big old silver platter. Basically if you have a profession, Bravo will give you an hour long series and I will watch it. I love Rosie purely because she is so ridiculous. Her title is “maternity concierge,” which sounds like her job is to deliver babies in hotel lobbies. She caters only to the wealthiest of preggos and indulges them by performing such important tasks as hiring an entire focus group to help a set of overzealous parents choose the perfect name to ensure the success of their spawn. Also I find her speech impediment… I mean British accent… totally adorable.

And of course, some real people made the list as well:

Unfortunately, growing up in New Hampshire with all of my grandparents living quite a long distance away, I didn’t really get to know as many of them as I would have liked. But based on the memories I have and bits of information pieced together from other family members, I feel actually more of a connection to them now that I’m older than I did when I was a kid. My mom’s mother was kind of your ideal 50’s housewife, except she was also an artist. Just for fun, of course, although she originally wanted to be a fashion designer but thought it was too serious. I now have paper dolls that she drew of my sister and I framed in my apartment, and she unknowingly designed my wedding shower invite as well. My mother always described her as having a Lucy-like clumbsy-ness, which anyone who knows me knows that I definitely inherited that.

Everyone who has ever seen the picture below tells me that I get my looks from my dad’s mother. She was your typical Italian woman, who valued family more than anything, and also, feeding them. When I was a kid I was a really picky eater, and my least favorite food was lasagna, which of course was one of her specialties. I remember her being offended that I wouldn’t eat it, and my father talked in circles trying to explain to her that it wasn’t personal, but I was just an odd child (okay, well he probably didn’t say that in so many words). Everyone whom I’ve ever talked to that had met her speaks of her grace, elegance and style. In the photo of her and my father from his prom people questioned if she was his date instead of his mother. For some reason, she always reminded me of Audrey Hepburn, which is weird because Audrey Hepburn is from like, Belgium or something and my Nana was an Italian from Boston. I felt like they had similar inflections in their voices, and whenever I watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s I feel like I can remember exactly how she spoke.

The term MIL seems to have kind of a negative connotation to it, but I have known nothing but niceness since I married my husband a little over a year ago. She’s a dance teacher, and the first time I met her was in college the day before her huge Christmas recital, so clearly, I was terrified. My MIL has a very strong personality, and she’s the type of person that gets things done. I like to think of her as a Coordinator of Chaos. When I first started at my job, I was commuting over an hour and I would often stay at Steve’s parents house. They always welcomed me like I was part of the family and not just eating their food, doing my laundry and just generally taking up space. This was all while she was going through her breast cancer treatment, and not once did I feel like a burden. In fact, when we found out she was sick, I remember my mother actually said, “I feel bad for the cancer!” We knew that she was that tough and would get through whatever life threw at her, and she did.

My mother and I have never ever been told that we looked alike. Some moms would be offended by this, but my mom always told me she was okay with it, because I have her personality and that’s what really counts. When I was a kid she tried to teach me fractions with measuring cups. While that method didn’t actually end up helping me as I am still terrible at math, she kept at it by trying to get me to use real life scenarios to figure things out, like making me figure out how much a top at the mall would be if it was 40% off. I know everyone says this, but she literally makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the entire world. She understands the importance of a good theme, like when she helped me throw a Sex & the City premiere party complete with “Mr. Big Shrimp” and “Chicken Carrie-aki.” She also followed me out of the movie theater when she saw that the police had escorted me out under suspicion of illegally videotaping the film (but that’s a story for another day). She spends about as much time online as I do, and has almost as much of a presence on Facebook as yours truly:

Don’t get me wrong- we also spend a lot of time discussing very important world issues:

But mainly she’s just easy to talk to and we always have fun together.

– See previously mentioned Tanning Mom

– Also Octomom, Toddlers and Tiaras Mom(s) and any moms in general that pull major publicity stunts and prevent their kids from having a normal existence

– Kris Jenner

– Dina Lohan

– Basically any “Momager”

– Snooki (I know she’s not technically a mom yet, but really, it’s time to start coming to terms with this)

– Everyone on 16 & Pregnant (unless they carry over to Teen Mom, and then I’m obsessed)

good moms force their kids to have memories to look back on,

no matter how traumatizing

~L