Exercise a little grace
Five years ago I took my first Crossfit class. My feet were quaking in my athletic shoes and I was painfully insecure. Trying something new always makes me nervous, and my jiggly postpartum body couldn’t do a single pushup. I was sure that I would die and leave my child motherless. Three years ago I was in the best shape of my life, strong, energetic, and healthy, feeling better about my body after two babies than I had before having any. I was running a mile in under 8 minutes, I could easily carry both of my sons at the same time. For the first time in my life I…
In Sickness & In Help
I’ve reached two weeks of being stuck at home with kids who are simultaneously too sick to be in public but too well to be cooped up— especially when the Motrtin takes effect. I get the privilege of holding my oldest as he cries thanks to a nice broom whack to the forehead. I should applaud my sons’ creativity. The lone dirty diaper that hadn’t found the trash can was turned into a ball and the broom was functioning as a bat. It only took one swing for my sons to realize it was a bad idea. Should have choked up on the bat. Or, you know, not attempted to…
It’s the Little Things
Confession Time: I’m horrible at budgeting. Like really bad. It’s easy to sit down and figure out the big things like rent payment, utilities, car payment, phone bill, etc., but I struggle to properly allot for the little things. A t-shirt here, a stop by Starbucks (or two or three…), a trip to McDonalds on the way home from church, diaper genie refills; these are the things that get me. Fortunately, my husband is far better at financial budgeting than I am, so this is an area where I defer to him. However, I realized that this problem manifests itself in all parts of my life. Time budgeting… I am…
Finding Joy
There is a hush over my house. I hear the whirring of our white noise machine and my soft typing on this keyboard. Occasionally I hear my own sniffles, the jangle of a dog collar, and the chirp of a smoke alarm signaling it’s need for new batteries. This is a rare occurrence in our household, me managing to get up before anyone else, sitting in a quiet house. My husband is sleeping in, meaning he didn’t have to get up at 4:30, my sons have stayed in their own bed all night long, the baby has been fed and cuddled back to sleep, and Wonder Woman’s feeding pump hasn’t…
Flash Joins Our Family
AKA, how I had a baby on my bathroom floor. I guess it started with his nickname, we chose it soon after finding out I was pregnant. As an English major, I should have seen that for what it was, foreshadowing. His birth day started with brunch. A delicious sweet potato biscuit topped with pork belly and perfectly cooked eggs benedict. It was wonderful, I’m still thinking about it. As my very pregnant self scarfed down every scrap of food on my plate and chatted with my girlfriends, I ignored the occasional contractions I was having. At this point I had been having them for weeks and was 0 for…
The Exhausting Mundane
We’ve entered a new phase of life. I call it The Exhausting Mundane. It was a gradual slip into this new normal, and it’s been hard for me to wrap my brain around it. I guess that’s why it has taken me so long to update our blog. On paper, things are easier. Superman is now 5 years old, he’s incredibly helpful and independent. Batman is growing up too and there’s been a giant jump in his independence, especially when combined with help from big brother. Wonder Woman is out of what I’d call the acute phase. She’s now 18 months old and for the most part, she’s a very…
Crazy Trains & Time Wasters Part 2
February of last year I wrote a blog to remind my friends that despite how ‘together’ I may appear, appearances can be deceiving, and comparing yourself to another mom is a waste of time. Thanks to social media, I fear the myth that I’m a supermom has begun again. I appreciate the sentiment, but figure I should go ahead and set the record straight. We’re all in this motherhood thing together and we each have our own lists of successes and failures, no good can be found in guilt tripping ourselves that someone else does it better. So please don’t put me on a pedestal. If you do, I’ll just…
The Dog Days of Summer are Over
I have a story to tell you about my youngest son. If you’re having a rough day, I think this will put it in perspective…. This morning I was attempting to get ready before I realized that all of the exciting things I was looking forward to today would be cancelled. Thanks rain. The oldest is watching TV in my bed and the youngest is running around upstairs being a handful. He wants to feed the dogs, so he opens up the container and does so, it’s very messy. I don’t complain because it’s entertaining him, but then notice that he’s not just feeding the dogs he’s also eating their…
Crazy Trains and Time Wasters
There are a lot of mothers in my group of friends and many of them are first time moms. For some reason I’ve been getting comments lately implying these mothers think I’ve got it all together. I attribute that to their sleep deprived minds being unable to see reality clearly. But as I think about it, maybe there are some factors that are contributing to this misinterpretation of life in our household. My two kids typically appear clean, well fed, and clothed, they seem to like each other and myself, many days I can be seen in public without yelling at my children, and we are intentionally attempting to add a…
