I have not been having an easy time lately. I've been feeling over stressed, under appreciated, anxious and skirting depression.
I know no one handles change well but I'm pretty sure I handle it less well than others. It takes me a really long time to make a decision and I agonize over it the whole way. Well I'm not sure if you know this but parenting is pretty much all decision making, all day. And they are important ones, that can affect their life in big ways. Making decisions for another human being is SUPER stressful!
So I've been working on finding the perfect elementary school for Eli, trying to get Ozzy potty trained to go to his preschool, trying to plan a perfect summer, trying to survive year end of three different activities and preschool, all with full fledged running 10 month old who has discovered his cranky side (probably due to teething).
I keep thinking, researching how I can do things better. How can I better potty train? How can I better deal with Eli's frustration and meltdowns? How can I get the boys' energy out best? Does going out in the afternoon work better than the morning? Does going to the chiropractor help Griffy or should I be taking him to the naturopath?
It's exhausting! And I finally put the pieces together last night that I have to stop trying to be better at everything! I sat down and I wrote a list. I wrote what kind of mother I want to be. For example :
A mother that plays.
A mother that sings.
A mother that dances.
A mother that cries.
A mother that prays.
It was much longer than that though of course. But it put in perspective that yeah I yell sometimes, but I also dance, sing, laugh, play, cry, and am real with my kids.
I keep seeing these 100 happy days challenges which I am all for, power to ya! I also have been seeing a lot of articles lately about social media is perpetuating unachievable standards in parenting (among other things) by only posting the good stuff.
Well I've decided to challenge all mothers (and fathers if they want!) for 100 Real Mom (or Dad) Days. I'm behind on the times and don't have twitter and I haven't had the heart to hashtag yet (call it a personal protest) but feel free to if you're into that!
My medium will be facebook.
I'm planning on posting one picture a day with a real mom moment. It could be a frustrated moment, a sad moment, a grumpy moment or a happy moment. Even a grateful moment. But no sugar coating. If you had a 90% crummy day you should probably reflect that. I'm sure it will be relate-able and it will hopefully be a good laugh as you look back on it. But let's be there for each other on the bad days as well as the good!
I would have started today had I gotten a picture of the ridiculous underwear change I did today (more of that on facebook) but sadly I didn't, so I will start tomorrow.
100 days, here we go!
