a quick little way to make someone’s day.

or if you just want to help spread the love of dirty diet coke….

 

i’ve been in a bit of a funk all week.

i think as moms, especially those of us who stay at home,

find that it’s often a lonely gig.

 

i wake up, meet other humans’ needs,

forget mine, do work, eventually remember to eat,

feed the kids, put kids to sleep, work some more,

get in arguments with a 3-year-old about why we can’t go to a barn…

feel guilty about not playing more with the kids,

play more with the kids, get in workout clothes, spend too much time online,

feel worse about either a) all the things i wish i had time to do, or

b) feeling like i’m a bad mom because of all the things i DON’T do…

forget meetings i wrote in 2 different calendars and set phone reminders for yesterday,

do dishes from a meal that failed, and throw away paper plates from the meal we bought instead…

you know how it goes…

 

and by the time you get to nap time {if you still have those}

you are just so tired.

tired of stressing about what kind of mom you are,

about being in workout clothes and not actually working out… again…

and about what kind of trouble your kids will be in if you don’t spend all the day teaching them to be good,

and tired of the day-long battle with your fears that something awful could happen to these tiny humans at any moment.

 

it’s a hard gig. a stressful one. one that isn’t kind to self-esteem if you let thoughts creep in.

and i have heard some of the most put-together moms i know

have meltdowns because of a crap-sandwich-day they had to eat.

no one seems immune.

some days when i start to feel lonely,

i will call my mom. who is busy and out and has stuff to do and usually can’t talk long…

and often my kids will get so noisy  in the background that she’ll say, “you’ve got stuff to do, i should let you go…”

and i want to scream “NO I DON’T! I NEED ADULT HUMAN CONVERSATION PLEASE!!”

and though we get together with friends pretty often around here, and i generally get to see my people who help to buoy me up and make me feel great,

and even if i do get out most days so i can feel useful in the world,

the day-to-day takes it out of me more often than i usually admit.

 

and often my mom will just tell me,

“sit down, have a swig,  do nothing.

you need it. and you deserve it.”

 

and come nap time, i always wish i had this sign on my door…

so i finally made one.

 and i’ll look up at my print on the wall, smile,

and realize that my life is great.  hard sometimes, but great.

and usually nothin a diet coke can’t cure…

 even a messy kitchen is a sign that i’m blessed, it’s true.

if you want to print all the tags n stuff here….

{including this print that i used to sell in my shop, but now i’m just giving it to you cause i LOVE you…}

just click here and save them to your computer.