Tonight as I
was making dinner I could hear my children laughing in one of their bedrooms. They
were playing and having fun and most importantly staying out of my hair while I
made dinner. I decided to go see what they were up to and as I walked down the
hallway I suddenly got the feeling that I wasn’t going to be happy with what I
found. They weren’t in either of their rooms which meant they were in my room. As
I walked in, I slipped on something slippery and landed straight on my ass. As
I looked up from the floor the two of them were jumping on my bed and having
what I can only describe as a baby powder/baby lotion fight. Imagine a food
fight but with baby products. I know right?!
My husband
was at work and I had a brief moment as I laid on the floor where I could have
decided to stand up and go all Liam Neeson on them. Instead I calmly got up and
said: “You will both clean this up NOW!” and I walked out.
I returned
to the kitchen and did some Lamaze breathing (see I knew that crap would come
in handy at some point.) I then proceeded to send a text to two of my
girlfriends and I started to laugh. That’s right there I stood, knowing full
well that my entire master bedroom was covered in baby lotion and baby powder
and I decided to laugh. When I became a parent, okay maybe not the moment I
became a parent, but at some point into my first child’s life I decided that I
would have two mantras on parenthood.
1. Laugh. Because if you don’t laugh you
will cry and crying is just not a daily option over laughter.
2. Stop taking life so seriously. No
really stop.
Somehow
along the way I’ve forgotten my own parenthood mantras. I take things way too seriously and all too
often I could cry in the bathroom rather than laugh in the living room. Tonight
for whatever reason I remembered the promise I made to myself almost six years
ago and I decided to laugh. That doesn’t mean I allowed the kids to think it
was okay to act like a couple of prisoners trying to teach the warden a lesson,
but it does mean that I laughed about the fact that said warden fell on her ass
in a pile of Johnson & Johnson baby lotion. I smell fresh and I’m moisturized so…win, win.
So tonight I
decided I’m making a new list of parenting rules for myself. I’m printing it out
and hanging it on my refrigerator because somewhere along the way I’ve let the
stress take over and I’m not the mom I want to be. Feel free to print your own
copy:
1. Laugh. Just laugh because crying is
not ALWAYS the best option.
2. Cry if you have to. It’s okay to cry
every now and then.
3. Stop taking life so seriously. No
really stop it.
4. Allow the kids to be kids. They only
get one chance at this and they will love you for it.
5. Set boundaries for them and for you.
6. Embrace the mess.
7. Make time for yourself. You deserve
it.
8. Get together with your girlfriends
more. They make you #1 and if for some reason you are going to #2 they will hug
you and give you wine. (The numbers
refer to this list only so stop worrying about rushing off to the bathroom)
9. Ask for help when you need it. It
doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you finally figured out you’re not a
Transformer.
10. Take
one moment every single day to breathe…just breathe and look at your kids.
Really look at them. Look at them when they don’t know you’re looking and you
will remember all the reasons you signed up for this gig in the first place.
You are SO right about this! I think I would have lost my MARBLES at that scene- especially after slipping and falling on my ass! But you make such a great point- and there are countless times I too, just have to laugh at the lunacy of this gig. Parenthood- ah parenthood.
ReplyDeleteLOVE the rules. They resemble my own as well. :)
Thanks Chris! Lunacy is definitely part of parenthood. :)
DeleteUgh! I've channeled my inner Liam Neeson TOO many times lately......
ReplyDeleteThe biggest thing for me is to remember how old my toddler actually IS, even though she seems molder most of the time, and I relly need to try and pick my battles. SO hard to remember in the moment!
That is one of my biggest problems too. I need to remind myself every once in a while that my kids are young and picking my battles is important.
DeleteSo did they clean it up?? And like I said on Facebook.... you'll get your chance when at getting even when they are teens...car dancing, kissing them in front of their friends...it all works out in the end! LOL
ReplyDeleteThey did clean it up...well the best you can expect from a 3yo & a 5yo LOL. I had to do some more cleaning after they went to bed but they did pretty well. I am putting the car dancing in my memory bank. I'm clearly going to need it so thank you. :)
DeleteOh I adore your rules!!! I'm with you, if you cannot laugh you cannot survive parenthood.
ReplyDeleteAmen Kerri and thank you! Parenthood is definitely not for the weak. ;)
DeleteNice. That's a watershed moment, when you're flat on your ass staring at the ceiling. Will you go nuts, or go with the flow? Maybe a little of both. I get annoyed when the girls are noisy and wrestling about the place, and when I tell them to cool it, they give me a hard time for not letting them have fun.
ReplyDeleteThat's when they're getting tickled. That'll teach 'em.
Just breathe... there must be a reason for the Faith Hill song, right?
ReplyDeleteAt the very least those, let's call them incidents, make for a fun blog post.
I hope you were having yourself a glass of wine last night!
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