As a Mom sometimes I struggle with the pressure from my perceptions of Motherhood and the portrayal of Motherhood from parts of society that tell me that I should base my entire existence and goals around my children. That I should be able to keep everyone happy, healthy, fed, clothed, a clean house, run a home daycare and be the perfect wife every day and get complete fulfillment out of reaching this goal. Well maybe if that goal was attainable I would have complete fulfillment…but it’s not attainable, that’s a fairytale, a work of fiction.
No matter how many things I cross off of my TODO list each day, there will always be things added to it faster than I can check off. One of my kids (mine or my daycare kids) will always need something in a timely matter when I am already busy doing something else of equal importance. There will always be another spill, another spot on the rug/couch/shirt/wall. I have run myself ragged in the past trying to keep up the appearance of life being flawlessly perfect and effortless. But let me be frank…it never was (and never will be) perfect and it was FAR from effortless. That was before we had Irish Twins!
My day starts early with these sweet, precious and sometimes straight up demanding little people. It’s full of feeding them, changing them, setting up/picking up toys, washing clothes/high chairs, floors/hands/faces/noses/butts/and the occasional wall. And then my daycare kiddos arrive and multiply that workload by four. It’s constant commotion, accommodating different schedules…and watching sweet babies grow into incredible little people. There is so much to do each day that if I wrote it all down I think my hand would fall off. It’s so time consuming, labor intensive, patience testing, and joyful all at the same time. So when the daycare kids leave, dinner is eaten, baths are done, and my sweet babies are in bed asleep and our house is put back together in preparation for the next crazy day….
I take a minute to just sit and breathe. I’m glad they’re sleeping. I’m glad I can take time to focus on myself (and my hard working hubs…oh yeah, I’m a wife too). To remember that I am a human being too with needs and wants and interests. I need this time each day to recharge: to recharge myself so that I can wake up tomorrow and do it all again. And hopefully be better at something than I was today. To be more patient, more fun, laugh more, enjoy the chaos more, stress less, take in the sunshine, and be more of who I am supposed to be. I don’t feel guilty when I take time to recharge, I can’t pour into my children’s cup if mine is empty. I love when my Mom or hubs is in charge of my kids and I get a mani/pedi, or peruse Target by myself. These moments are ones that fill my cup, that allow me to miss my kids so I can come back reenergized. So whether you’re a working Mom, stay at home Mom, work at home Mom, or any combination of the above…take the time to recharge. To just be you. Find you. And enjoy being who you are. Your kids will learn from that and hopefully be fulfilled, well rounded, resilient human beings too.
Enjoy today, whatever is on your TODO list. And enjoy your coffee…even if it’s cold.
Cold Coffee with Kids 