Photo by Paul Downey
7 am - Morning starts off just a little too late (I pressed snooze instead of getting up straight away), so I have to remind myself not to rush or feel frazzled.
10 am - Elijah proceeds to throw a 20 minute tantrum (Imagine non-stop panther screams inside your house.)
I go to furthest corner away from him as possible, muttering things like "Help me, Jesus" and "Kind, detached policeman, kind detached policeman."
11 am - After all is finally over, I retire for a few minutes in rocking chair upstairs--trying to convince myself that I am not, in fact, the worse mother in the whole world and that my children will grow up to be capable, kind, successful individuals.
1:30 pm - Kids are watching a video while I'm supposed to be writing--but I have no desire to write anything, so instead I do some very minor online work and proceed to read blogs and waste time for 45 minutes.
5 pm - I call Steve to say, "Can we do something different this evening? Have had a few challenges today."
So we drive to pick him up from his office and take the kids to a park, one which the kids claim is "boring" but we tell them to make it fun while we sit on a bench and commiserate together.
6:30 pm - Head home and give the kids tortillas and yogurt for dinner.
8 pm - Hooray! They're all in bed and still alive.
I celebrate by reading a book all evening and reminding myself of something I once wrote:
"I try not to beat myself up for having a difficult day. The snapshot of a single day, good or bad, does not define my life or my influence on my children--so let go of all that Mommy guilt!
Rather, each day represents a small piece of a much larger and complex collage, with love as the unifying theme."
~ Steady Days, page 69
Some days are just bad days, even for steady moms.
If you enjoyed
this post, I hope you'll subscribe
to Steady Mom--it's free!Jamie is
founder of this spot called Steady Mom, editor of the blog Simple Homeschool, mama to three cute kids born on three different continents, and author of Steady
Days: A Journey Toward Intentional,
Professional Motherhood.
