Thoughts on being a Stay at Home Mom

I am coming up on my eighth year of being a stay at home mom.
During that time, I've represented the following...
elementary, preschool and pregnant
elementary, preschool and infant
elementary, preschool and toddler
2 elementary and a toddler
2 elementary and a preschool
2 elementary and a preschool
middle school, elementary, preschool...

This year...middle school and 2 elementary.
I've reached the milestone. All three boys will be in school all day.

Seven years, and to be perfectly honest, I still don't have it down pat. There are many days that I am frazzled and feel like there is not enough hours to get it all done. I feel like every chore that needs to be done is a battle and I am on the losing side.  Then, I'll have that rare glorious day when I am put together, the house is clean, laundry is caught up on, dinner is prepared early, homework time is easy and  I am on top of the world. Ahhhh, the perfection I imagined as a stay at home mom. Of course, I am usually slapped back into reality the next day.

I know this may sound like a complaint. I guess it kind of is. Nobody, and I mean nobody, likes their job 100% of the time. On those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days, stay at home moms don't even have the option to leave the negativity "at the office" You are in your work environment 24-7. And I'm not talking about being a mom. That never changes...even if you go out of the home to work, your mind and heart is with your little people all the time...no matter where you are. I am referring to physically being in your house. Now, I'm not chained in my home. Believe me, I live for my Monday morning coffee time with my friends and have errands to run just about every day. I guess, for me, it's the mentality of sleeping where I work.
I have to say, there are days when being at home is harder than any job I've ever had.  I've been a working mom. I know how hard it is. I used to get two little boys up and out of the house by 6:30am every day, breakfast and lunches packed and drove 40 minutes to my job. I still had all the typical household duties...laundry, cooking and cleaning.

Enough with the negative...I truly realize what a  blessing it is that I have been able to stay home for as long as I have. It's not easy to live on one income. All the credit goes to my husband who is amazing at keeping things balanced financially. We are a good team and I probably don't tell him enough how much I appreciate all he does. We both agreed that having a stay at home parent is the best thing for our kids. I love that I am home for them after school, there is no conflict if someone has to stay home sick or I can participate in school activities. I'm glad that I am home so dinner can be prepped and I can help during homework time at a reasonable hour. I am there to wake them up in the morning and can get them off to school with a good breakfast. And during the summer, we get to relax and enjoy some down time together.

That said, with summer winding down, our days have been a little tougher. Patience all around has been waning...with me and the kids. I'll admit, summer vacation makes my job a little harder. I love my kids dearly, I really do,  but being together all this time leads to bickering...and learning exactly what buttons to push to get someone to snap.

I may or may not have been complaining about losing my mind when my husband said my "vacation" was coming up. Um, no. Like I said earlier, we are a great team, and we are both in agreement that me being home is the best thing, but vacation...are you serious?  He said that I will have 8 hours to do as I please when they are in school. Will I have more time to get things done? Yes! Will things be easier? Yes!  Will it be a vacation? Oh, HELL, no!!  The best I can hope for is that I have that the rare glorious perfection day happens at least once a week. Dare I dream...and go for two or three times  a week? Only time will tell.

Monday Motivation

 I have lots of dreams....and  I'm ready to work to make them come true! Do you have a dream? Make this week count. Happy Monday Friends!

Monday Motivation

Pool time

The weather this summer has been crazy. Most of June was plagued with those nasty afternoon thunder storms. It was like "Groundhog Day" as the clouds rolled in every day. It got old really fast. Then, we hit July and a stretch of 90+ degree days. I wish a real wave made you feel like the song...happy, peppy and wanting to sing and dance. Instead, you just feel like you are melting. Thank God for pool time!!!

At our pool, kids under 14 need to take a swim test to determine what areas they can be in. The wristbands use the stop light system. Red...stay in the shallow end, yellow...a little deeper, but a larger area to play and green...go where you want, including the tube slide.

R &S have been green the past two summers. L has been content to stay in red. Until this summer. His brothers and our friends, who we generally go to the pool with, have free reign.  L was starting to feel left out. We practiced while we were on vacation and he did surprisingly well. Our first time back at the pool, he was ready to go for yellow.

Mission: swim half the length of the pool and float on your back for 30 seconds. 

He was ready and passed with flying colors! L was determined to do it before he turned 6...and he did,  by one day.

As proud as he was to have a yellow band, there was one more hurdle to jump. Less than a week later, he wanted to go for green.

Mission 2: Swim the whole length of the pool and tread water for 30 seconds.

He had not once once of fear and his only question was if his chin and mouth could go in the water while treading water. The lifeguard nodded yes and with that, he was ready to go. My little fish went on his way with his goggles and unique swimming style. He made it! He climbed out to get his green band and went straight to the slide!

 Now, all three boys are green and my littlest fish has the freedom to follow his big brothers. He is not the strongest swimmer, so I will still have to be extra diligent in keeping my eye on him. That's OK, because I am so proud that he had a goal, went for it and achieved it. My baby is growing up!!

                     4 weeks left of summer...and we are going to enjoy it as much as we can!!!

Fashion Friday: Lazy Summer

Fashion Friday: Lazy Summer by taraelliottchetty on polyvore.com

Brotherly Love

This is the picture that started it all. L keeps a copy of it in his room. He loves to look at it, especially as he is getting ready to go to sleep at night.

A few nights ago, I was looking at it with L and I said, "Hey, you are going to be the same age as R was in this picture. He was 6 when you were born"  He stared at the picture quietly for a bit and then said to me, "When did he turn mean? I mean, like, he is always annoyed at us all the time." I was taken aback for a second and then I started to think.

Pretty insightful, huh? I know we are in the midst of preteen angst, I know my frustrations, but, I never thought of how S or L perceive things to be. I guess L looks at this picture and he sees a happy go lucky 6 year old like himself  (particularly since they look a lot alike)! He can't grasp why anything in life should be frustrating. I tried to tell him that as kids gets older, their bodies are growing and changing and sometimes their feelings are more sensitive. It happens to everyone, but, no matter what, R still loves you because you are his little brother.

I have to admit, R is really a great big brother, even at two and a half when he first took on the role. He sets a good example for both S and L. He looks out for them and will always help me with them when I need it.

For now, we are just going to navigate through the storm of hormones and just when I think we have things down, S will be going through the same thing  ;)

Life (and my insecurities) are like Kayne West...interrupting my blog like a Taylor Swift acceptance speech

Yes, well, that was fun while it lasted.
I was on a roll for like a week, and fell off the face of the blogdom. I can't say the face of the Earth because, really, life has been going on and with three boys, there is always something going on.
Really, much of the Spring until the summer was consumed with baseball. It was a crazy schedule, but we survived. All three boys played and at three different levels...chaos.
S had the longest season. His team made it to the championship series and the big finale of the season was S going to the All Star game
We sprinted into summer and 5 weeks from now, I will have three kids in school full time. EEK :/

So, along with a busy life, I start to feel like I am crazy while blogging. I feel like I am talking to myself (which is eerily similar to how I feel talking to my kids some days this summer). I think to myself  that I don't have anything interesting to say to others. That is the biggest hurdle to overcome. I love going back and reading my own posts. That should be reason enough to keep it up right?

I know I will never be a world wide "Beyonce" Blogger, but will happily be a "Taylor Swift" to anyone who wants to read. Now, time to put on the big girl panties and Get.It.Done.

*****Disclaimer. I realize that millions of people idolize TS, and I am not downplaying her popularity. Right now, I'm the unknown opening act ;)