Emphasis on the after-school meltdowns.
Because OHMYGOSH! I can't even!
Today ended up being incredibly hard. By 10:00 a.m. I was completely exhausted, and then I remembered something: having kids in school doesn't make my life easier. It just makes it different. I always forget this, and I go into the school year believing I get to have a "break" from my kids. I have unrealistic expectations about what I'm going to accomplish while they're gone. I have delusions of productivity and self-care.
Then reality hits like a brick wall. At the end of the day, I feel like I've worked really hard but accomplished nothing.
Here is how I spent my day - proving that I did, in fact, accomplish a lot, but all I can see is how messy my house is and how overwhelmed I feel.
-Woke up at 5:00 and again at 5:45 with Eva
-Did the prayer and scripture thing
-Got dressed
-Got Nicky out of bed at 6:20 (Zoe followed soon after, and I had to tell her that she had TWO MORE HOURS until school. She spent those two hours asking every five minutes if it was time to go)
-Made Nicky's breakfast (oatmeal and a banana)
-Took Nicky and two neighbor girls to the bus stop (6:50)
-Came home and fed the girls (they hate everything, so I just put out boxes of cereal and declared "Eat or starve. Your choice!")
-Loaded the dishwasher
-Started a load of laundry
-Did my hair
-Finished all details of getting kids ready for school, including traditional photos on the front porch
-Went to school with the girls and spent ten minutes in each of their classes
-Took the birthday poster down from May
-Came home and had a friend over for Eva
-Chatted with my neighbor
-Made a meal plan and grocery list
-Ordered groceries online
-Changed laundry
-Sent Eva's friend home
-Met Christie for lunch at Cafe Rio
-Went to Sam's Club
-Came home, and Eva's friend came back over
-Chatted with my neighbor again
-Packaged chicken breasts and thighs for freezing
-Changed laundry
-Cut up a watermelon for dinner
-Took out garbage
-Sent Eva's friend home again
-Went to the bank
-Picked up Daisy and Zoe from school
-Dropped Daisy off at piano lessons
-Went to the grocery store for one item that wasn't in stock for my grocery order
-Went to a different store to pick up my grocery order
-Picked Nicky and Daisy up from piano lessons
-Unloaded and put away all the groceries
-Cleaned up a big paint mess from Eva
-Fixed dinner and fed the multitudes (tacos and watermelon)
-Cleaned up dinner
-Read and signed all the school papers
-Took Nicky to the store to buy divider tabs and an alarm clock
-Bought everyone a hot fudge sundae and called it "Family Home Evening"
-Enforced chores and homework
-Changed laundry
-Got the kids showered and ready for bed
-Did the pre-bed time routine - brushed teeth, scriptures, songs, and prayers
-Put Zoe and Eva in bed and turned on a kids meditation recording for them
-Fought and fought with Eva to get her to stay in bed
-Made the big kids read
-Fought and fought with Zoe to get her to stay in bed
-Turned on kids meditation for the big kids
-Picked up a bunch of random art supplies from around the house
-At this point Zoe was screaming her head off about a stuffed penguin, and I sat in a dark bedroom and wrote this blog post
-The screaming continues...
-Now Eva has joined in...
I actually thought I was going to get four kids put to bed, and then I was going to workout.
Note that there is no mention of Scotty. That's because he's traveling for work. Over the summer, he was gone for about four weeks total. I handled it really well, so I thought I was getting good at having a traveling husband. I now have a theory that it's just not as hard when he's gone during the summer because I don't have to maintain a strict schedule, and I don't have 5,001 places to drive my kids every day.
I'm going to be fine, right? Please tell me I'm going to be fine!
3 comments:
Yes! You WILL be fine. Just not for awhile. LOL
The hardest part of raising kids is letting go of expectations. I'm years (years!) down the road ahead of you and - in retrospect - I wonder why in the world I let so.many.things derail me while my kids were growing up. Expectations! I expected to try and get things done, I wanted my kids to be successful . . . and made sure I ordered their lives so they could be. All of that takes a LOT OF ENERGY, though, so YOU pay the price.
I wish I'd have let a lot more things go back then. If I'd been more present and not so distracted with accomplishing.everything.on.my.list, they'd have had to deal with their own choices and learned faster and better. They'd have been in charge of making their own lives good instead of me taking it on. Actually, I think throwing cereal at picky eaters is a great way for them to face the consequences of their own actions. LOL It won't kill them if they're hungry one day, but it might make them think twice the next time.
I spent way too much time smoothing the way for my kids when I should've been letting them wallow in their own choices. If I'd put as much energy into that instead of cleaning up all their messes, so to speak, they could've learned and changed on their own.
Sorry for the rambling. ;) That's what 40 years of motherhood does to you. LOL
Thanks for the comment, Sus. It's always good to hear from someone on the other side of the parenting journey.
BRITT!!! you did a ton and still made time for lunch with a friend. Quit being so hard on yourself.
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