Nobody is Perfect

Some of the motherhood blogs I love most have mothers that tell it like it is, and I'm going to try and do the same. Telling of all the good warm and fuzzy events is easy, but it is a challenge to tell of your faults, so that is what I'm challenging myself to do this morning.

I've been a stay at home mother for 3 years now, and I'm nowhere close to perfecting this most important job. I find myself getting irritated easily on those "bad days," sometimes a lot of times, I feel myself being lazy with my household duties (washing clothes, scrubbing floors, dusting, etc),

some nights I don't feel like fixing dinner! There are some days where I'm in a funk and I allow my children to watch movies all day long so I can find peace in my brain, so I can Be. Still. Sometimes I don't want to entertain my kids, I do think that I'm hard on my children sometimes, so am I a bad mother?

I'm the kind of person who also feels just horrible for all the above mentioned. I reevaluate, ponder, guilt, guilt some more, and really try to come up with a better plan for me to be a better mother.

However, the more I think about these things, I also think that some of the above is okay too.  Being a mother has taught me great patience, and according to my Mother I have much more than she did, I still feel like I have a low patience meter reading on some days. This is one thing I would love to improve upon. When I sit down and wonder why am I being so inpatient? The reason is completely selfish. Normally it is because I stayed up way to late the night before, I'm in one of those lazy mood days, I haven't gotten up and walked in the morning, the house is a mess, and my list of "to-dos" is just WAY to long! Is that my kids' fault? No. It is mine. This is where the guilt starts eating away at me. SNAP OUT OF IT AMBER! Get your rear in gear and get stuff done, then you can be less stressed and focus on playing, imagining, loving on your children all day long!

Much easier to say then do. Being a SAHM (stay at home mother) is also a monotonous job (this is why I hated working retail). Same jobs to be done day in and day out. Wash, dust, clean, tidy....wash, dust, clean, tidy...you get the picture. So. Some days I allow myself to let things slip. Everyone needs a break right? At the exact same time I'm finding reasons it is okay, I also know in the back of my head leaving work for today will make me grumpy tomorrow because I have more to do than I want. LOL....a vicious cycle, one I want to correct!

I love to cook dinner. I really do! There are nights that I just don't, and that is okay too. No one ever died from having a bowl of cereal for dinner. I refuse to feel bad about this, so I won't, I just wanted to tell it like it is on this one.

Entertaining my children. I do feel bad about this one. I often think I need to read more, play more, draw more, pretend more, with my kids. On the other hand however, I think it is a good thing that I don't do this with them all the time either. I believe it is important for children to use their imagination on their own. It is good for them to look at books and come up with their own story, but sometimes I don't do a very good job facilitating these things. Now, if I can do better on the above mentioned, I also believe I'll be a better mother in all areas.

Erma Bombeck on Motherhood:

I loved you enough to ask about where you were going, with whom and what time you would get home

I loved you enough to insist that you buy a bike, that we could afford to give you, but with your own money

I loved you enough to make you return a Milky-Way— with a bite out of it—to the drug store and to confess “I stole this."

I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that would have taken me 15 minutes

I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, disgust and tears in my eyes

I loved you enough to admit I was wrong and ask for your forgiveness

I loved you enough to let you stumble, fall and hurt

But most of all, I loved you enough to say NO when you hated me for it. That was the hardest part of all!

            Does anyone else out there feel this way or have felt this way? What were some things you did to correct yourself if you believed your actions needed to be corrected. Advice? I am a good person, I'm a loving person, I adore my children and am madly in love with my husband. I love staying at home and resisting the over played hustle and bustle that a lot of mothers fall victims to, in the end I love being at home and doing the monotonous work in lieu of being in the business world! I really do. I just thought I'd share some of my most inner thoughts with the world to help keep me accountable for what I would like to change about myself.

A Little Bit of Everything

Ready to get down to business! 

I Don't Know About This Mommy...

What a HUGE surprise it was to me when he was fully potty trained by the third day! Amazing! We still haven't gotten through the night yet, but are well on our way. There have been no accidents for about a week now and that is surely impressive. He has taken to the potty like a champ. He loves his big boy undies, gives an ear to ear smile after he's done with some high 5's, and can't wait to flush and wash his hands all by himself. Another out of diapers is a great accomplishment, especially when they run you $21 for a box for 76 diapers. I can only hope Caroline will be just as eager to wear some princess undies to get her going. :o)

Homemade Peach Pie Helpers

Goobers

They were so proud helping to make the peach pie! Samuel couldn't wait to eat a piece, and was allowed to stay up about 45 minutes past his bedtime to enjoy in his work. Peach pie in a bowl, half-n-half, with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream while the pie is warm....HEAVEN! I forgot to take a picture of the final product but it sure looked pretty.

Helping Mommy Knit

Grandma, you didn't know two gals made your dish clothes with love now did ya? I was lucky I didn't have to fight through a huge knotted mess, but the girl had fun.

Not Sure About This Face?

So Innocent...

Lookie at my New Trick!

Daddy and Samuel Having Fun With Camera

My Babes

Other big news? Not much to report actually. With all the rain moving through, something has blown in throwing my sinuses into a MAJOR funk. :-/ Can't say I'm too thrilled about that. This morning I broke out the saline rinse and I need to make a run to the store for my sinus relief medication. My garden continues to be fruitful and beautiful! The weather is beautiful and awful all at the same time; 97 degree weather with a humidity level in the hundreds is not my ideal type of weather. I can deal with the heat but the humidity just stinks. 

Lately I've been getting plenty of exercise around the house chasing after my stinking fast water bug scooting across the floor. Now that she can pull up to things, I've found my magazines and books on the floor on more than one occasion. Her little smile with two pearly whites peaking through are just too much to resist! 

Samuel is super excited because we got him into pre-school for this upcoming year! He'll do great with all the other kids. His favorite thing lately is working in is pre-school workbook we bought him, and he is obsessed with Doodle Jump on Grandma's iPod, and now Daddy's iPod. The other day he scored over 21K points!! There was a bit of an obsession and that had to be broke. It wasn't pretty, a little bit of bratinsky came out, very very ugly, but I am pleased to tell you all he is back to sweet old Sam! ;-) Doodle jump is only played sparingly now and for small periods of time. 

Isaac is getting into playing more with "super heros" (Kinex little figures) with his brother, and loves loves loves cars. He has a little more stubborn in him that I'd like, but his snuggleness still overpowers the big boy he is slowing turning into. 

Summer is flying bye just as I expected it would, and a small bit of me can't wait for the crispness in the air with Fall approaching, but for now I'm enjoying today, enjoying summer, enjoying swimming and popsicles and our game called "corn hole or bags" depending on where you come from. So. Enjoy your moment, enjoy your upcoming weekend, and if you have some free time browse around my Etsy Shop for some early Christmas gift ideas. :o) 

Peace~

Amber

Beefcake and Taters

I told myself that we would start the potty training saga soon, but I am such a lazy mother when it comes to potty training! Sure I would love for him to be out of diapers, for more reasons than one, but at the same time do I really feel like cleaning up messes when I'm running around after a very mobile 10 mo. old? Yeah. Not really. *sigh* Last week I thought I would give Isaac a taste of how cool it would be, and how much better it would feel, if he agreed, to wear some big boy undies in hopes he would potty train himself. No such luck yet, but I will never get tired of these:

My sweet little Beefcake!

Aren't those the cutes Elmo buns you've ever seen? :o) I'm sure Isaac will appreciate these pictures some day....but such a stud-muffin!

For those of you craving some sweet little girl pictures I've got some for ya. Now that my gurl has some teeth and is ready to have some table food, we found that mashed taters are a favorite! Daddy couldn't shovel them in her "ready to go birdie mouth" fast enough, and temper tantrums would follow letting him know so! I decided, sure, what the heck? A plop of taters, right in front of her on the highchair...boy did she go to town!

Love me some taters!

Happy Hump-Day!

Cheers~

Amber