I love a good mom blog. I love the ones that make me laugh and the ones that make me cry and the ones that make me crazy even. I guess I'm a sap in that way. I find great joy in the "oh my goodness! me too!" moments that can happen through someone sharing their life with us. I also think I'm drawn to them because parenting is something that requires constant encouragement. It's such a unique experience. Not many things can take you the full range of emotion in minutes...hell sometimes seconds.
And then even more specifically, I usually love a good stay-at-home mom blogger because they offer me lots of "oh my goodness. me too." material. (disclaimer: when I say that I love SAHM bloggers, I am not saying that staying home is the right way or the only way or a superior way. I am simply just stating that I can relate to them because it's my life as of this moment. #momsunite)
I have noticed recently that all of the blogs about staying home with kids have such negativity within them. Most of them focus on the difficulties. The snot stained yoga pants. The 24/7 on call status of motherhood. The feeling of constantly being tugged at, pulled on, and used up. The floors that are never clean (really they're not). The judgemental assumptions of others (for example: I have to insert the funniest thing that has happened to me in awhile. When I am really stressed Matt will send me for a pedicure...I mean like every few months, not every few weeks. It's quick, cheap, and I can get home in time to nurse Sam and we all know how important that is. Anyway-so I went for a pedicure and this sweet Asian lady asked me in a thick accent what I did for a living. I gave my normal ridiculously long speech about how I'm a graduate level educated social worker who chose to take some time off of my rigorous work schedule to be home with my children while my husband is completing his residency (blah, blah, blah, why do I do this?). She looked at me and said "your husband do all the working? you need to at least take care of these feet!" I should have been offended but I almost fell out of the chair laughing. My feet? They are so dern low on the list of things I'm caring for but I'll do my best to get to it! Back to the point...) There is plenty to write about that is difficult about motherhood. I realize why people write about that and why it's important to discuss it, but I decided I wanted to write about staying home from another angle.
So here goes nothing! Here are the things I love about being home with my kiddos.
1. Let's start with snot stained yoga pants. Yes the snot stains may not be attractive and the lack of time to shower is rough, but I LOVE that it doesn't matter. Some days I wake up and I feel like showering and putting on make up and real clothes and I can. Sure those days require that my kids watch an extra episode of Mickey Mouse, but I can absolutely get dolled up some if I want to. And even cooler than that, if I don't feel like putting on make up, cute clothes, and showering, then I don't. I love the freedom of throwing on my sunscreen, nike shorts, and a baseball cap and running out the door. It's awesome. I've lived a life of getting dressed for work everyday. It wasn't as awesome.
2. I love to shop now. I used to only get to shop for work clothes because it felt like I always needed new things for work or if I bought anything new that it needed to be something I could at least wear to work. Partly that is because we've been living on a tight budget for years now, but also because when you have to get dressed up everyday you start to feel like you're wearing the same thing all the time if you don't add to your work wardrobe a good bit. I LOVE that now when I shop, I buy whatever in the world I want. If I want a cute tshirt, I buy it! I'll wear it a good bit. Buying something just because you like it is a fun feeling.
3. I love the pace of our life. If we need a day to sit around in pajamas and do puzzles all day, we can absolutely do that. There is not usually some immediately pressing thing that must happen. When I worked, I felt like week days were crazy and weekends were packed full of all of the fun and errands I could squeeze into them. We had one mode: go! Don't get me wrong, I can still feel like that sometimes, but it's just different. I have the freedom now to know when my kids need go, go, go and to know when they need quiet days and I can actually provide them with both. I LOVE that.
4. I love that I can cook what I want. There is freedom in this surprisingly. When I worked, I was the crockpot queen because getting home after all day of work and daycare pick up and then cooking a real meal was more than I could do many days. It was exhausting. I LOVE that now I can cook a more complicated meal if I want to. I like that I can sit down and find a new recipe on pinterest and give it a try. I am not a complete health nut, but I do like having the time to make a fresh dinner without it completely stressing me out. I also like that Panera Bread is walking distance from our house so if I don't want to cook, we can walk there for dinner. That's not really about staying home, but I still do like it.
5. I LOVE that I am not stressed to the max when one of our boys is sick. Sam is sick right now. I am currently listening to him wheeze over the monitor and it's pitiful and awful, and I do not like that he is sick. What I love is that I can be with him all day and all night and not feel one minute of fear about what all I'm missing while doing so. When I worked and John was in daycare he got sick a good bit because all kids do, it's the nature of the beast. It always seemed like he got sick the night before my most important days at work. Of course my first thought would be pity for him, but my second would be complete panic about how I was going to be in two places at once. I do not miss that feeling. My job was even so flexible with me about that, and it was still so super stressful. I LOVE that when I noticed that Sam felt warm on Sunday morning that my only thought was "guess it'll be a low key for the next few days while he's on the mend."
6. I also love getting to see my kids. Really see them. Their strengths, their interests, their talents, their strange little quirks. I love knowing that I'll be here to see Sam crawl or walk and that I get to see that little light bulb going off in John's mind as he learns something new. I know it's a luxury. I don't mean that to sound like I'm rubbing that in. It's just truly one of the things I love. Last Tuesday, I randomly saw they were having a concert for preschoolers nearby and we went. It was precious and a blast. And Friday they're having a Frozen story time at Barnes and Noble, and we get to go. Each opportunity to bring the boys to do something like this makes me grateful for this time with them. Experiencing childhood again through their eyes is a gift I will be forever grateful for.
7. I love that for some strange reason this season of life has revealed more to me about God's great love than any other time thus far. I'm not sure if it's the constant dependence on Him to get me through the days or what, but I know that there is something about this time in my life that brings me to Him everyday for strength, for guidance, for wisdom, for peace, for an extra helping of grace.
8. I do not love the dirty floors. I got nothing redeeming to say about that.
I know I'm forgetting tons of things about what I love about this time. Is it a tornado of emotion every single day? Yep! Is it the most exhausting job I've ever had? Yep! Is it hard to be at the mercy of little people who are not always merciful? Yep! But there is so much good stuff too.
And really. We should talk about the good stuff.