How appropriate that Mama Kat posted this prompt for her writing workshop after my super wonderful Mothering posts the last few days. You've gotten to get a peek at the mothers round me and how they make me a step closer to saint hood j/k but in my eyes I can pretend what I want. Yesterday we took a little trip delving into maybe what the kids might see when looking at us. And today you get the TRUTH, well, as told by me and all the little things I overlooked not knowing until the minions arrived :)
So here are ten things I had no freakin idea about until I became a Mom...
1. Breakfast should always be ready...if you are awake or not...because THEY will ravage through a kitchen like a tornado and the looters that accompany them.
2. You can save yourself 2 million dollars by only buying Ramen Noodles, children (or mine anyway) will more than willingly eat those for every meal and indeed want seconds. So why bother.
3. If you are the spanking parent..you probably have good kids...but in some places it's frowned upon. CHILDREN KNOW THIS...who the hell told them? SO they might respond to their punishment with "I'll call CPS" and you can respond with..."well they'll have to find your body first" :)
4. Laundry baskets are a ploy to get all our hard earned money. You can spend a butt load on the coolest, most awesome, change your life kind of basket...there will never be any clothes IN it..beside it maybe, but never IN it. It will be used to build forts, carry supplies, and as a sled when it snows. I promise!
5. T.V.s and video games should never be put in your kids rooms. This is a grave mistake but you won't know it until report cards come home. *fingers crossed for Monday*
6. No one ever told me I would cry hysterically on BOTH my boys first days of school not wanting to let them go but then be reduced to tears every time the weather man wants them to stay home.
7. Chores are an easy concept one that I am willing to share equally with my family:) But be prepared to chose your delegation wisely or you will never know when you are out of dog food, detergent, windex, guinea pig bedding, or that the toilet brush is missing....until you need them.
8. No matter how healthy and germ free you try to be it's impossible with kids, they share everything! Socks, underwear, whistles, water bottles,toothbrushes, forks! And with all the tromping through the creeks and woods, rolling in the mud, storing turtles and frogs and what have yous in coolers and never washing their hands it's a germ heaven and a Mom's nightmare. On top of the fact if you have boys that never want to miss out on a moment of fun there is NO way they are gonna tell you their throat or head hurts. Which only means that you are the one that catches whatever they've had and then when you're finally sick...they hurt too :(
9. You'll be best friends with the School Secretary, between everything that the kiddos forget and you day after day give to her, and all the times that "they are sooo sick" and miraculously are cured when they get home will make you and her fast friends. Most of your daily communication via email will be with their teachers...cause you're a parent to what well call the "class sparkler" aka freakin class clown. And most of those emails will begin "Hey Lady, It's me again"
At least you have adult interaction???
10. They steal your heart, and it's the one thing you don't demand they give back! On a daily basis you will laugh over their shenanigans, cry over their growth and relish every minute you have left with them, even though they drive you crazy. They have your heart and nothing can change that. They are the best therapy for what ever emotion you need to work through, and I would risk life and limb for them. And that's something I never really understood until they were here <3
If someone would have only warned me :)
I got this as an email today and thought it was soooo funny I had to share it. It's so cute to see the way the some kiddos view their Mommy. My posts have also been somewhat mushy, which is not quite me, and really who wants to hear me gush anyway?
WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:
Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.
How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.
What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.
Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.
What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy...
3. They say she used to be nice.
What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?
Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.
Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.
What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.
What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.
What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.
If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.
What makes you good parent? What makes you a bad one? How do you know which one you are? I know everyone doubts themselves and questions if they are missing some parental gene that others seem to possess. I don't do everything right, I'm a smart ass, I know it, and sometimes it's hard for me to shut off when dealing with my boys. Geez see previous post and you'll know what I'm referring too.
But J and I do put our boys first, we play games with them, even when it's really the last thing we want to do (insert last night and the longest game of Pictureka you have ever seen), we take them fishing, camping, shooting, scouting, we're at all their games, and we genuinely love to sit at the table with them and BS. I think we are very connected to our boys and even though their Dad is gone ALOT they respect what he does and know that he does it to make the world a safer place for them. They know I do my best, mostly by myself and most IMPORTANTLY they know they are LOVED and can come to us no matter what. They have already shown us that they truly believe in that theory.
We live in a community of blended families, BROKEN (and I don't necessarily mean single parent)homes, and long deployments. And in all that mix are children who seem to get lost in the shuffle. Some of us do our best to make sure that doesn't happen, and then there are those of us who just don't care.
My heart bleeds for them, and my home has become some what of a refuge, when it can be. Anyone that has known us for even a teeny amount of time can tell you our house is the hot spot, there are always 4-5 kids whom I did not birth hanging out, eating, playing, and talking our heads of at our house.
Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming for me. I didn't grow up like that. Despite adult feuds with my parents I had the perfect childhood. Everyone loved my Mom and Dad and always felt welcomed by them. So I guess in essence we have become them...eekkk. But the Hubs didn't have that, and he has to remind me, that at 7:30 am when the doorbell starts ringing and it's neighborhood kids coming in to eat their poptarts at my kitchen table, or coming in for me to fix their hair for pictures, or iron their collars, and needing a ride cause it's raining cats and dogs, to take a deep breath cause "they don't get that at home Resh".
I'm getting kind of emotional now...which was not the way that I wanted to start my Monday :) I know in the end the love they feel here, even while driving me crazy, is worth it.
Sometimes the Hubs surprises me too. Case in point...it's a snow day, I was looking forward to sleeping in...the door bell rang at 7:15 and again at 7:30 with the local kiddos who's parents are at home and still in the bed. But they're now on my couch, cause their mom and dad didn't even care enough to get up this morning and realize there's no school. Who does that to at 10 year old? And might I add it's not the first time. I think they think by the time the kid figures out there is no school today, it won't be their problem. I'm not bashing another parent for a mistake or mishap, or for over looking something...god knows I do that...but it's a habit, almost like clock work when it comes to their children. Something I have learned to count on, which is sad.
I was gonna go back to bed after I told them "no school" but the teddy bear stuck in a massive body that I call the husband decided if they'd rather be here they should be. I think he sees himself in them, and wishes someone would have lent a hand. Even if that someone was a computer obsessed, hanging on for dear life with their own kids housewife....like me. So it was P.B & J pancakes all around this morning.
I guess it doesn't surprise me, some Mom's are just too tired, the deployments, the training, the if the Army would have wanted you to have a family they'd have issued you one, all of it weighs on a person, but I'll be DAMNED if it's the kids it weighs on. So I'll put my groggy foot forward and fill as many up with love as I can.
And when I doubt myself I'll look back and realize that somewhere somehow I've made a place that isn't always clean, usually noisy, most the time a crazy hectic home that some call paradise and where all are welcome.
Guess I should figure out something for all of us to do today. Seeing as how their parents haven't even checked to see where their kids are, I think they'll be here awhile.
