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6:50 am: The 2 year old starts knocking (loudly) on her door. One of us jumps out of bed as quickly as possible and tries to convince to her to back to sleep....because no one is allowed out of bed before 7!
Tom gets ready, makes himself a protein shake while I grab a shower and throw something clean on. All of the kids are up now because of course she woke the whole house. I quickly throw bowls of cereal and cups of juice in front of the 3 oldest while I make the baby a bottle and feed him.
8:30 am: Kids are arguing about wanting the same toy. Baby poops up his back (again) and requires a new outfit and a bath. The 2 year old won't let me out of sight and while I am not looking, the two oldest turn on the computer and start watching Netflix.
9:30am: I just finished the dishes (from this morning AND last night) and need to start doing school with the girls...oh no...the girls have been watching shows for an hour already! whoops!
11:00 am: We somehow managed to get through all of the necessary preschool and Kindergarten worksheets while the baby napped....but not without 4 timeouts and the 2 year old coloring all over the wall.
11:30 am: Feeling frantic, this is when I realize that I have not prayed yet or read any part of the bible. Maybe I can read something quick on the ipad. Then, I pray while I am preparing lunch. A lunch that no one wants to eat despite it being EXACTLY what they asked for!
1:00pm: 2 year old naptime...aka...Heaven. Force the 6 year old read to me for 15 minutes. It takes 30 minutes because of all of the fighting.
2:00 pm: The 4 year old forgets about her sister sleeping and goes into their bedroom for a toy. End Naptime. Grumpiness begins by all....including mommy.
3:00 pm: ooops...forgot to take the meat out for dinner. Maybe it will thaw quicker if I put it in water.
4:00 pm: Crazy time. Everybody needs mommy for no good reason at all. Dinner needs to be made but the baby needs to eat and we need to get the 6 year old ready for dance class. The 4 year old doesn't want to wear shoes and mommy just wants to lock herself in the bathroom for 5 minutes of peace and quiet. But this is when I realize that we were supposed to return the library books.
5:00 pm: Daddy comes home. Mommy runs away.
haha....ok, this is clearly an exaggeration (or maybe it isn't) of my day. Sometimes it feels like this though. I know so clearly how I want my day to go and yet, I don't always start my day with Jesus. If I did, it wouldn't necessarily mean that everything else went perfect, but it always helps.
It is having this image of what a perfect day is that makes me a feel like a failure. It is the pressure that I put on myself of what my life should look like that make it feel so impossible to be a great mom and wife.
But, it just isn't real. The real me is exactly the way that God made me. He made this life just for me. Despite the days that I feel crazy and completely unglued, I love it. I am so in love with my husband. I love my children more than I ever thought possible. I love homeschooling. I love planning. I love it. It is a mess...but it is my beautiful mess.
Maybe your life isn't as chaotic as mine...or maybe its worse. No matter the circumstance, let's try to encourage each other as mommies that we CAN do it. We can do it the way that God wants us to. We can give our days to Him and then do our best.
Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Tomorrow...when the knocking starts, I need to recite that verse and start my day by serving the Lord by serving my family. Join me, will you?
Here we go, this sounds more like MotherofSmallChildren reality!
ReplyDeleteAnd when people with no children ask "So, what do you do all day?" you say "Uhhh, ummm". It's complicated, okay?
I get derailed if I forget that my JOB is to be in the trenches changing diapers, breaking up fights, and passing the baton of faith to the next generation (got that from someone else) instead of getting through all those things to get to something else.