I feel like an inadequate loser mom most of the time.
There is one thing that I feel good about and that's Mommy Fun Day. So forgive me, but I am going to share it with you again. I can talk about my one solitary success as a mom can't I???
Every Wednesday for about a year I have taken my kids somewhere special, just the 5 of us, and we call it Mommy Fun Day. I know I am alone with them everyday anyways, but Mommy Fun Day is specific time set aside where we go and play and don't worry about laundry, dinner, homework, or friends. It has been so awesome and we have done a lot of cool things this year.
Some of our favorites have been:
-going to the dump, the fire station, and police station
-visiting our neighbors horses, going to Chuckee Cheeses, Classic Skating, and bouncy place
-going to the pet store, library, mall, and temple
-eating at Mcdonalds, Wendys, El Farols, Great Harvest, and Baskin Robbins
-picking out dollar gifts for eachother, buying new shoes, flying kites, and going sledding
-painting rocks, making costumes, decorating cookies, and eating lots of treats together:)
There's been so many I can't remember them all!
The last two weeks we've stayed home and had a blast. Here are some pictures.
We stayed home played hide and seek, had a backyard picnic, and gave Ammon his first popsycle. Do you think he liked it?
Ray and I taught Ruby how to ride her bike....
....and I bought everyone new helmets. Don't you love how Ruby is in a fancy dress both times? She wants to wear a dress every day!
The truth is now that Ammon is more mobile and I have three active babies, I am spending less time "doing" stuff and more time just "being" with the kids. I don't need to say how rewarding and fun motherhood is...we all know it is the best thing ever. It really is.Call me crazy but I also think being a mom can be really hard sometimes. It gets so crazy with my little ones and I feel like all I do is clean up messes, change diapers, feed little mouths, and clean up more messes all day long! Did I mention clean up messes???
Measuring our success as a mom is impossible as well. One minute you've got the dishes done, the kids are dressed cute and playing nice and you feel like you are doing a good job. And then suddenly there is fighting, disobeying, more messes, and you feel like a total failure. Half the time I am convinced my kids will be screwed up forever because of me and maybe they'd be better off with someone smart. I mean I don't always know how to handle things like, "She started it, I pooped on the carpet, I don't have any clean shirts for school, The baby swallowed my toy, I prayed so I wouldn't be scared and I'm still scared! etc etc"
But I'm doing it. I am a stay-at-home mom of four kids under five. I guess my biggest current accomplishment is that I made it through the morning and nap time today. Oh, and I actually showered. Yay me! I'm a success!
We never say this but I am proud of myself for being a stay-at-home mom. I am proud of my friends who are moms. And I'm proud of my kids for forgiving me and still saying, "Mom I love you" day after day after day after crazy crazy day.
10 comments:
That was sooooo well said! Beautiful!!! And I loooove the Mom Fun Day idea! I'm stealing it!
Well put. I am so happy to be a stay-at-home mom too. I know it's the right thing for us and I wouldn't have it any other way. I know those messes and it seems never ending. It's good to know that we're all doing this though. By the way this is Tiffany, in case you don't know. The pic is the kids and it's a different name. Anyway, I'm so glad to have found your blog. I love blogging!
Thanks, Shannan! I REALLY needed this post today.
What a great post! You are an amazing person and mother with an incredible amount of love for your family and for people in general. I'm proud to call you friend. And especially glad to hear that four very young kids is hard for someone else besides me!
Remembering the FUN in parenting and ennobling it with a name and making an appointment to complete it is a great idea, Shannan.
You made your own choice.
Holy cow, I had to come to see that comment for myself and all I can say is it must be as simple as a crack-head who happened upon your blog. Crack-heads are a good reason to go private. Then again, you inspire a ton of people, and it would be a shame to hide your light under a bushel, so to speak. Because you are a leader and choosing to do what's right, when it's not the popular thing to do in this world (when has doing what's right ever been the popular thing to do?) there will always be people to appose it and who will try to dash you to pieces. Thanks for being strong, Shannan. You help us to be strong, too. And remember that there will always be annoying, yet insignificant knats out there. You can stand there staring at them while they pester you, or you can simply flick them away.
I had to see the comment for myself! What a clueless individual! Thanks for saying how every mother feels.
You are such a delightfully amazing, awesome, and normal mom! I love you, even if I'm behind on commenting! SPEAKING of which -- seriously, that is such an ignorant comment. I feel sorry for people who make weird comments like that. To be in such an uninspired, seemingly angry, myopic, accusatory place in life must be very dark and dreary. I love you and miss you every day! And I'm not just sayin' it!
Shannan, I just read your whole blog (I wanted to find out the stories behind the adoptions and WOW, you guys are amazing! I'm so impressed that you added three kids in a year!) Anyway, then I got to the post about the comment about this post. Like you said, obviously not a mom, because ANY and ALL moms would totally understand this post. Being a mom is so hard and rewarding. I heard on Oprah (of all places :)!) that "We are all trying to love motherhood as much as we love our children." I couldn't agree more. It sounds like you are doing a wonderful job and all of your children are so blessed to have you as their mother!
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