Sunday, June 23, 2013

A "Good Mom Day"

I was just trying to play catch-up on our family blog (I try to use it more as a family journal, but I'm failing miserably!). The post was about J turning 2, but the conclusion slowly started turning into my most recent thoughts on motherhood. (Side note: feeling extremely narcissistic about that now that I've actually typed it out and you all have read it.) However, it made me think of a topic that I wanted to talk about with you--here's the concluding paragraph and then I'll get to my topic:

I'm trying my hardest to get out and go do stuff with her--to take advantage of the family-friendly environment of the Midwest; as well as, my wonderful opportunity to stay home with her. We go to the library on a weekly basis (sometimes more) and we start Parent-Tot Swim lessons tomorrow! She is excited beyond belief! I'm hoping to get out and find more activities in the community that are going on this summer. My greatest desire and ambition right now is to be a mom that DOES stuff. This week I'm going to buy Play-doh and water-color paints and anything else I see in that aisle that she could do! I just yearn to be a good mom. Others may see that and think that's so lame, but it truly is the greatest accomplishment in my life. The days when I sit back and know that I did a great job as a mom, those days, are my happiest! When we explored, tried new things, read books, played toys, snuggled, and hugged and kissed and wrestled on the ground--I know I did my job and it makes me so happy! I never thought I'd see the day when I became so elated and overwhelmed with a sense of pride because of those things--but that day is upon me and I make no excuses for it. 


Do you know what I'm talking about? Those days where you just really know that you did your job. That all the career ambitions or personal interests you set aside to be a mom, were all worth it. Will you tell me about one of those days? (Shoot, don't hold back, tell me about every single day you can remember that was like that!) I just love hearing about days when moms were awesome! I love it because, when do you ever get to talk about it in a public setting without having to hold back because of the eye rolls (either because people think being a mom is so 1950's or people hate you because you're making them look bad)?

I liked being a teacher, but I LOVE being a mom. It totally sucks somedays, but a lot of times, those are the days when I wasn't doing it right! I wasn't trying and I wasn't paying attention to J and that's why she was going cray cray by noon. So can we do this for each other? Can you leave a long comment or post about all the ridiculous things you did with your kid(s) and can we all agree to reply to each other's comments with, "You go girl!" "Slide-burns are the worst, but oh so worth it!"and other stuff like that? No one is going to try and one-up each other, it's just a no-holds-bar-euphoric-I'm the bomb dot com-comment-fest! And instead of adding lines to our stories like, "sooo that's life with a toddler!" *nervous laugh* or "the things you do when you don't talk to adults for over 10 hours" *nervous laugh, is it hot in here to anyone else????*, let's just say something hard core like "I make no excuses!" Because being a mom is hard core and I don't care what anyone else says!

I'm so excited about this, I almost forgot I haven't posted in forever so people probably aren't reading anymore, but that's okay! Whenever you see this, or think about it after you've had a "Good Mom Day", just come and comment and I will be happy and excited right along with you!

As a recap:

  1. Leave a comment or link to a post where you describe a day where you were a sweet-tastic mom.
  2. Be hard core and say, "I make no excuses!" at the end.
  3. Reply to other people's comments or link with how hard core and awesome they are.
  4. Come back and repeat whenever possible.
  5. Boom.


Here are some of my, "Good Mom Day" moments,

She had been SOOOO sick, but she wanted to go outside so badly. We struggled and climbed to the very top of the jungle gym and, after all that, she was too tired to play. So we sat, and watched some squirrels. I taught her squirrels live in trees that day (funny when you realize all that they don't know) and I didn't rush her to go down a slide so we could go home, we just sat, and watched squirrles play and climb. I make no excuses.

As a family we went for a walk and randomly came across a Paddle-Boat little pond area. We went inside and found out it was only $8 total, for everyone, for 20 minutes. So we just did it, like that! No plans, no questions, we were just spontaneous and fun and J still asks to go "Ride a boat?"

Sometimes your toddler wants to wear a winter hat when it's 80 degrees out, you just roll with it and feel good about them getting to be a kid!

Sometimes your toddler likes stickers, but DOES NOT like stickers on herself. So you take one for the team and wear Anime stickers for an entire day. I make no excuses!

We went for a walk. A really long walk where I just followed everywhere she wanted to go (except for the trash compactor--being hard core does not mean being stupid).

I didn't feel like wearing sunglasses, but she LOVES when we wear them together. So we rocked those sunglasses and Maroon 5's "One More Night" for the one billionth time in a row.

Even Clifford has to hydrate. And the answer is, "No! She hardly ever wears clothes at home! And, yes! It does make her ridiculously happy and say awesome things like 'NAKEY BABY NAKEY BABY!!'" I make no excuses!

Sometimes they aren't sick, they just really want you to hold them while they sleep. And yeah, I had a ton of other stuff to do, and it made us late for a dinner invitation, but now I have this, and I make no excuses.

8 comments:

  1. Love it..I'm not a mom so I can't really contribute. You are an amazing mommy!!

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    1. Thank you! You can still contribute with how you treat your patients...it's probably very similar to parenting a child. I'm sure it takes a lot of patience and love to do what you do! You're great at being kind to others, I've always admired that about you!

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  2. Love it..I'm not a mom so I can't really contribute. You are an amazing mommy!!

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  3. you were a great teacher and are a fantastic Mom, and I totally agree that our roughest days usually are when I am not being the best mom I can be. This morning was very much like, "IF You Give a Mouse a Cookie." We started the morning (7am with some cuddle time while watching Little Einsteins (I actually learn something along with him). We then called Grandma and Granddad to play chase over the phone, which means me chasing him while they say, "I'm going to get you!" (his way of playing with them), and then made some chocolate chip cookies for a party this evening. Hunter loves to help bake-the mixer is the best tool ever-so we will just make cookie dough and freeze it into balls for baking when we want to have just a couple cookies at a time. We ended up with flour, sugar, milk, dough, all over the place, so he ran to the closet to get the broom and swiffer and vacuum. It always takes longer when he helps, but the look on his face as he is helping just makes me happy, especially when he just goes and tries to do it by himself. He even helped me empty the dishwasher and realized when he was putting the lid away that the pots and pans looked like fun to play with so pulled out every one, which meant we had extra fun reorganizing the cabinets. It isn't always easy, but it is the most enjoyable and fulfilling job I have had. I love how you take Jaeli to the library each week-our trips are to the zoo and have been cut out lately due to house hunting and moving and sickness, but we are hopefully going to get back in the swing of things.

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    1. I love this! You are great to just go with it! Sometimes I find myself saying, "No." And then I think, "Wait a second, why not?" I love when it just comes naturally! And playing with grandparents over the phone?! That takes dedication! You're awesome, Mindy!

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  4. I love this! No excuses!

    I helped Lucy write thank you notes today for her birthday presents. We worked on an art project, and I am delighted to discover her first "people" drawings have made their first appearance. I can't tell you how much I am loving those potato people.

    We also went on a bunch of errands today and didn't have a tantrum- and even got to share a treat together. We are planning on going on a walk together in a few minutes. Overall, this day was a success!

    Go Joree!

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    1. Real people?! How exciting! Errands without tantrums?! You must be doing something right! Go Tracy! You're awesome!

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  5. Just before mothers day we watched https://www.lds.org/pages/moments when the missionaries were over for dinner. Of course it made me feel all guilty so the next day I tried really hard to play with my kids. I'm not sure what all we did but we played outside amongst other things. Half way through the day Zoey (almost 5) looks at me and says "mom, you're learning how to be a good mom from that movie huh?" I laughed out loud because yes, in fact she was right. It was a good day and I completely agree with you that the days when I play with my kids are the days when I'm happiest. It's a challenge because life is crazy and there are lots of other things I can do with my time. Most times I probably fail, but that day I did it right :)

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