It Must Be Nice To Be My Husband

I have now been doing this whole SAHM/WAHM thing for 10 months.  That is nearly an entire year.  Sometimes it feels like I have been at this new routine for YEARS and then other times it feels totally brand new. 

I have learned so much during this time - about myself, my kids, my goals in parenting and in life.  And while this has all been fine and dandy, there is one thing that I now know FOR CERTAIN.

It's the most wonderful time of the day! (For Mommy too...)

It must be nice to be my husband. 

Yes, he works at an often stressful job with unpredictable and sometimes long hours.  His job frequently invades our nights and weekends.  The stress of it can feel like another appendage at times. I get it. 

But, now that I am home and not scurrying off to a full-time job with a long commute every day, his responsibilities at home have been FAR reduced.  I don't want to specify how reduced because he will read this and I know that he will disagree with me; however, let's just say the last time the man located a cleaning product he was aged in a different decade.

Now, I don't want to sound like Husband does nothing.  He definitely pulls his weight around our house and is most nights in charge of bath and bedtime, giving me a much-needed reprieve...so I can write humorous blog posts about our life.  Ahem.

BUT, and this is a significant BUT.  From my viewpoint, he gets off pretty easy in the whole scheme of things.  He gets to shower and leave the house 5 days a week ALONE.  He doesn't have to wrangle two kids to get dressed and brush their teeth, now please, so we can get out the door on time for school. 

I seriously find myself pondering what life would be like if I could shower in the morning and subsequently leave the house by myself with an entire commute to do, well, absolutely nothing but drive, listen to music and chew gum.

When Husband returns home, the house has been cleaned, dishes and clothes washed and put away, dog walked, dinner (usually) prepared and ready to eat.  Groceries have been purchased, children picked up and dropped off from school, and all the other items that used to fill our weekends are now complete. 

But, this is my job now.  A job I didn't necessarily sign-up for, but, shockingly, one I really wouldn't trade for the world (right now at least). 

And while Husband certainly misses out on all the grunt work and gets to walk in the door to a chorus of screams from two children who act like they haven't seem him in months, I know that I am the real winner. 

(See Husband, and you thought I was going to spend an entire post whining.)

While I may not always look pretty or even get a shower every day, I get to spend every day with the two of the three most special people ever.  And for that I will suck it up and clean the high chair tray, again.

Need a Pep Talk? It's Mom-isms To The Rescue!

So, as I have mentioned before, my mom has amassed a lot of what my siblings and I have termed "Mom-isms."

What's a Mom-ism? Basically, a saying, motto, quote or such you may or may not be already familiar with but that she claimed as her own and repeats to us as applicable.  So, daily.  Since birth.

Mom-isms even appeared in the form of window clings or handwritten around our house when I was a kid.  Some of them are still hanging. This is for real. (Ask Sarah. She'll vouch for me on this one - she might have made fun of me once or twice for them. But, it wasn't my fault.)

The funny thing though is that the older we get, the less we make fun of her for this and the more we really "get" these messages and also find comfort in them. Life can be hard, and sometimes a few little words is all you need to turn your mood or the day around.

So, in honor of the biggest inspiration in my life, I give you my Mom's best inspirational messages.

"Think negative, get negative. Think positive, get positive."
Sounds so simple, but this one sometimes blows when I try to put it into action. It's so much harder than it sounds. I seem to get stuck in this track of negativity where it's hard to see the positive in a situation.

"I believe in myself."
I am a rockstar. Repeating this one works too, but it's just a souped up version of what Mom always told me. Especially after we become parents, it's important to repeat this beautiful mantra to remember that we are doing the best we can and man, that's good!

"Trust that life is good, even when it hurts."
But, it hurts. How can it be good? We've been there - probably many times at this point in our lives. At the end of the day, sucky things happen in life. But, in general, it is pretty darn good. Most of the time.

"No stinkin' thinkin'."
Love you, Mom. And, yes, I'll clean up my brain.

"When God closes one door, He opens a window."
Sometimes that next door isn't automatically opened, but at least a window is opened so we can catch a glimmer of what's around the corner. What can carry us through and get us to the next phase of our lives.

"What goes around, comes around."
A more traditional version of "karma's a bitch." But, it's true, isn't it?!

"Open your eyes and look."
Duh. I feel like this one has to be in every Mom's repertoire. And, seriously, could children (and their Daddies, sometimes) be any more blind? How often I want to scream, "OPEN YOUR EYES!"

"Keep it simple."
What a beautiful way to live and to parent.  We like this one a lot. Hence the name of our blog.

There is nothing like Mom's wisdom. (Or her chicken soup, but that's another post for another day). If I end this life being one-third the parent she has been, I am a wild success.

Passing on wisdom to the next generation.
This one was "Playing in the rain is fun!"