This Relatable Photo Series Proves That Stay-at-Home Moms Do Indeed "Work"

Giedre Gomes, a mom of two boys and a photographer from Indiana, knows that raising little humans isn't always as easy as it appears on Instagram. In an effort to show the real and raw side of motherhood, she put her camera skills to work and captured the situations moms everywhere find themselves in every day in her recent photo series, appropriately titled "Mother's Day."

"I always have crazy ideas in my head that keep me from sleeping till I make them happen, and this one was one of them," she told POPSUGAR. "I knew what I wanted to show in my pictures: not an outdoor portrait of a happy loving mommy but reality, everyday life, and routine. I knew I wanted to show a mother butt-naked on the toilet with no privacy."

Without thinking twice, Giedre put out a call on Facebook to moms who were willing to be photographed. And that's when her neighbor Jamie, a mom of three, stepped up to the plate.

"Jamie is just like me and doesn't care what people think," she said. "She said she wasn't afraid to pose on a toilet or let people see her unshaved legs, whereas the rest of the moms said that doing that was too much for them."

Giedre also hoped that her photos would bring to light that stay-at-home moms aren't sitting around all day doing nothing.

"I wanted to show that stay-at-home moms don't sleep all day. Many people think, 'Oh good for you, you're home all day, you don't have to work.' It may seem like it's easy because we do it every day and have everything under control," she said. "But it's not, it's hard work. Even my husband agrees I have a harder job than he does — and he works 12-hour shifts."

At the end of the day, she wants other women to see her photos as a symbol of the journey they're all on together called motherhood.

"Everyone talks about how special motherhood is and how the bond shared with a child is unlike any other. It's a magical journey that is both rewarding and satisfying, and I couldn't agree more. I absolutely love being a mom; it's the best job in the world. But motherhood is not always all rainbows and butterflies," she said.