I have learned something...

Today is a total blah day! I did my usual breakfast, worked for a couple of hours while my kids became zombies in front of the tellie, did some laundry and tidy'd up while they continued to follow me around making a mess right behind me. I finally put on a bra and decided to go out front and play some ball with them. It was fine until Taylor started to wander across the street and run away from me (can't quite run to catch her)! OK, so by now I'm a total grump and pull everybody back inside for some lunch. Now they want to go in the backyard which is still wet from the rain this morning and I know the first place Taylor will go is the muddy circle where the pool is "supposed" to be! AH...I'm feeling it today...don't want to play with kids, just want to veg out by myself and I wished they were at school and Tay was sleeping.

Hopefully my chicken thaws out for dinner tonight since I actually made up a menu for the week and did my grocery shopping late last night...it would be kind of lame to not make dinner after all that. Anyway, needless to say I'm so grateful my mom is coming next week to babysit me! With a new baby I'm sure this feeling of not wanting to do anything will only blow up in my face so I'm glad my mom will be there to rescue me! Usually when I reach around 8 months in my pregnancy my nerves just below my boobs go numb and actually are tender to the touch. It's like my skin is getting SO stretched my body can't handle it. Anyway...it's so tender today and I'm constantly pushing down on it to feel better. I'm seeing my doctor next Tuesday morning for some major "stripping" if you know what I mean so hopefully I only have around a week left of this constant pain. I don't want to complain but today it just feels like that sort of day!

I luv luv luv my kids SO much, I have to emphasize this point...but being a mother is very overwhelming sometimes and I would be a liar not to admit that! I think I'll end with this small article a friend of mine asked me to write a few months ago on the importance of being a 'stay at home mom'. It's a reminder to me how awesome my life really is...


How many times have you been at your husband’s "work" Christmas party and someone has come up to you for some small talk and asked "So, what do you do?" Of course you’ve just had three other women talk about their professional careers, Ph.D.’s, and money making ideas and here you are and say "I’m just a stay at home mom!". I’m sure you’ve all had the same reaction of "Oooooooh…but do you have a job?" I’ve often wanted to be somebody on the other side hearing this just so I could say "Good for you! That’s gotta be tough! Wow, I got nothing on you sister!" I have had many jobs in my life that have caused stress, worry, and anxiety, but never had I ended my day with the sense of joy and happiness that I feel when I’m climbing into bed at night after a long day of teaching, yelling, hugging, threatening, kissing, congratulating, crying and cuddling with my three children! The world has put a mark on stay at home mom’s that we are made to feel under-rated because we aren’t out in the work place making money, when in reality we are the people shaping the minds and behaviours of the children of the future. Some think that as soon as we take that baby home from the hospital we are ‘stuck’ at home and all learning stops. I have to admit that since becoming a mom I have learned more about selflessness (leaving half my dinner on my plate because my 2 year old will want my food instead of her own), patience (after cleaning the 5th ‘accident’ off my floor while enduring the incessant inevitable task of potty training), self control (after finding all my brand new leather furniture ruined when my 3 year old came across a permanent sharpie marker), pure delight (when my 5 year old looks up and tells me "Mom, you’re beautiful"), honesty (when my 5 year old looks up and tells me "Mom, you look funny" after I have taken my makeup off), anger (when I crawl into bed at night and find a little pair of scissors accompanied by tears in my sheets), Being sick to my stomach (from seeing my dog eating his own poop, second only to realizing my child can take her diaper off and eat hers as well), the ability to problem solve (by keeping a soo soo in every nook and cranny of my house), excitement (while watching your child take his/her first step), shock (when seeing my 2 year old standing at the top of my pantry shelf buck naked because he wanted a ‘breezy’ climb), pride (when my 5 year old read his first book to ME before bed), compassion (from holding my crying 4 year old when he wasn’t invited to a birthday party with his brother and assuring him that one day he’ll have his turn), and true happiness of seeing the fruits of my labors when I get a call from my child’s teacher at school complimenting them on what a kind loving kid they are.

When we’re not cleaning the kitchen, picking up toys, making beds for the 3rd time that day, getting snacks on the table, filling up sippy cups, wiping tears and runny noses, rushing toddlers to the toilet, getting dinner ready, and helping with homework, we’re doing laundry AGAIN, picking up toys, paying our bills, putting more snacks on the table, following through on a ‘time-out’, vacuuming the never ending crumbs from eating on the go, re-using our magic eraser on our walls, setting up play dough on the table and anticipating a big mess, filling up sippy cups, and possibly sneaking in a little time for Young and the Restless if we’re lucky! The work is non stop and never ends; we don’t have a coffee break without distractions, we have a diet coke, turn on a movie for the kids and load the dishwasher; we don’t have to be at work by 8:00am, we are woken up from the time we go to bed every couple of hours, from crying, nightmares, potty runs, sneaking in mommy’s bed, hunger, and let’s be honest…husband’s! We don’t answer to our boss down the hall when we’re late for work, we answer to our little boss’s tummy’s downstairs when we choose to take an extra 30 min of sleep in the morning knowing full well that the bag of cookies will be gone by the time we make it down for breakfast.

So next Christmas when the time for ‘work’ parties are around the corner, let’s plan our own party and invite all our children, husband’s and their colleagues to come and enjoy the ‘easy life’ for a change! After all, we’re JUST stay at home mom’s right?