You start out with the best of intentions. The night before, you make a plan and “remind” them to get a good night’s sleep and have a perfect morning so you can get a tattoo before heading off to your morning routine (that’s the part I call motivation and cooperation; others might call it blackmail).
Your alarm goes off, you open your eyes, and you think, “Oh no, not already.” You tell yourself, “Just 10 more minutes… But then you think, “No,” because you know that after that, it’s going to be hell. You watch the clock tick away and you know full well that you’ll have no choice but to rush through everything at breakneck speed. Your baby cries the moment you set him down on the floor, and your middle child and your oldest are arguing over who has the biggest glass of milk. Your oldest is going to be late for school if you don’t hurry up. You’re breastfeeding your baby while holding her with one arm, running back and forth across the house, telling yourself that if anyone saw you, they’d laugh at you… a real whirlwind, a “octopus mom” in full swing.
You end up getting everything done… well, let’s just say what’s necessary! You buckle them in one by one in the car, plop yourself behind the wheel, and let out a big “phew”—all right, okay, let’s go. You drop them off one by one at school and daycare. You back out of the last stop sign because your little guy says, “Nooo, Mom, one more kisseee, one more huggg.” It breaks your heart to have to leave him like that, but you have no choice… If you did have that choice, you wouldn’t mind spending the next hour giving him as many kisses and hugs as he wants!
You get to work, and you’re rushing around again—one task can’t wait for the next. You don’t take any breaks, because it’s been years since you quit smoking! You eat lunch at the corner of the table to feel like you’re saving time. Ooooooh, 5 p.m. rolls around, and you have to drop everything because that’s when the next shift starts. Jump in the car, head to daycare, pick up the two youngest, and off you go home because, luckily, Dad can pick up the oldest from school.
You get home—it’s around 6 p.m.—and then you tell yourself that, in an ideal world, they all need to be in bed before 8 p.m…. A bath—they want a bath (ha fu :$^&$!*$, if only they liked showers, it would be so much easier)—and above all, don’t forget that you have to eat and cook, if dinner isn’t ready yet. .. I’ll admit I LOVE the slow cooker, although I feel like everything tastes exactly the same!!! Do you have any tips? I’ll take them. …
I’m running around from morning till night; I always seem to find that second wind that helps me keep going until the moment I lay my head on the pillow, but if you have any tips to help me catch my breath a little, I’ll take them!!! I love my kids, and I never, ever regret having them in my life. But I’ll admit that sometimes I wonder if this is really what life is all about…. Fortunately, amid all the chaos, there are little moments of coziness, sweet and tender words, and gentle caresses that do my heart so much good. The moments when I hear them laugh heartily, when they rest their heads on my shoulder, when they whisper “Mom, I love you”—those moments are priceless.