Mediocre Mama

I've had a moment of clarity. These are few and far between, in general my brain is like a bowl full of mush surviving on coffee and sweet tea, but for a moment my foggy brain woke up. This moment happened when I was sitting in my friend's kitchen while she hand washed her dishes. In the city, to own a dishwasher means you have an extra $200/month for rent - meaning I can't afford to live in these places. We were joking about how much better we would be as moms if we only had a dishwasher. Or if we had a washer and dryer in our building. Or. Or. Or. As we sat there talking about who we are as moms while her kid napped and mine was at preschool (because when else can two moms find a bit of time for friendship except for over a counter of dirty dishes?) I had a moment of clarity. I am sacrificing a dishwasher (eliminating a $200 expense) so that I can be a stay-at-home/working mom.

I love spending time with my daughter. Most days. The first couple weeks of preschool have been challenging. But most of the time she's polite, curious, funny, and always up for a conversation. So I love my job as a SAH/WM. But I'm not quite as perfect at it as I imagine in my head. In my head we are bathed, hair done, teeth brushed at 7pm (like tonight - #winning!), but usually we are running around trying to buy groceries, get the laundry done, be social, and we run out of time and suddenly it's 10pm and I'm a #mediocremama. How quickly I fell from my pedestal of perfection!

But here's the deal - the end result of my moment of clarity. There is freedom in just accepting that I cannot be perfect and I will make mistakes and my kid will sneak 5 lollipops before I noticed she had even one because I'm doing my best to provide for my family, making sure my child is a good addition to society, caring for and supporting my husband, not killing the cat, and not getting submitted to be a contestant on Hoarders by one of my perfect friends. Phew! And that's the short list!

So if you are a #mediocremama like me, let's stop feeling guilty all the time and beating ourselves up for the mistakes we make, the piles of clean, unfolded laundry, the unwashed floors, the 3 day old dirty dishes, and the messy hair on our kids. Let's spend more time hugging, kissing, running around the park, blowing bubbles, laughing for the hundredth time at the same stupid knock knock joke (stupid is a word only allowed by adults in our house), and dancing to music. You can do all these things with your child or a stranger if you wish, but I was thinking of your child. To each his own. Point is, let's enjoy life and be #mediocremamas together.

xoxo

P.S. If you are a full time working mama, all this applies to you as well! We all make sacrifices for our family and one is not better than the other. This post wasn't meant exclusively for stay-at-home moms.