Thursday, July 12, 2012

Confessions from a not-so-together Mom











I have your attention now, right?  Often we read blogs and Facebook posts and see happy kids and hear stories about funny things that have happened.  It is easy to think other Moms have it all together.  They are raising happy kids, keeping clean houses, fixing healthy and fancy meals .

Let me tell you about my world for a minute.  We moved a month ago for my husband’s job to Canton, Ohio.  We signed a one year lease on a house that we had seen only in pictures.  After moving in we noticed a strong cat odor that is wreaking havoc on my allergies and there are a number of problems (some are safety concerns) that aren’t being addressed by the landlord so we started the process of getting out of our lease.  Long story short, after wasting time and energy looking at other houses we cannot get out of our lease without incurring tremendous expense.  So we are here until next May and will begin looking at that point for a new place to move again. 

My daughter is going through an extreme independent, identity phase.  She dresses herself in the craziest outfits complete with hats or tiaras—no big deal.  The big deal is the attitude and personality that comes to life with those outfits. 

My son is out of his schedule driven preschool environment and doesn’t really know what to do with his time or energy.  We have a loose structure in our house but he needs more than what I’m giving to him.  He wants my attention at all times. 

I know I will miss this one day but right now it just seems that everyone needs me for something different.  I am trying to do fun things with my kids but also have Mom things that need to get accomplished.  I’m going to be trying a schedule in the next few weeks to see if that helps everyone out a bit. 

On top of this we had the new youth group to our house last night for a hot dog roast.  It was good to get to know new people and open up our home.  I enjoy having people over and my kids enjoyed having playmates.  I guess we upset a skunk though because after letting my dog out around 11:30 she got sprayed by a skunk.  So we de-skunked her with ketchup, baking soda and just about anything else I could think of and find in our cabinet. 

I don’t really know what the point of this post is…..other than to confess to you that I don’t have it all together.  There are so many days right now that I need a do-over.  I’m trying to allow creativity and independence while also teaching respect and boundaries to my head strong daughter.  I’m trying to give attention and also encourage independence from my son.  I’m trying to be a good wife to my husband and not take it out on him when all my energy is gone.  Thank goodness tomorrow is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A.  Free food and Chick-fil-a……could it get any better? 

2 comments:

Corinne Long said...

Thanks for your honesty! I think most moms would say the same things if they were completely honest too!

I definitely am not-so-together pretty much every day!

The McGregor Clan said...

I feel this way most days. Just trying to keep everyone fed, clean, and where they need to be. :). The skunked dog would have sent me over the edge. Its probably funny now, but not at the time!