The Circus Season of Motherhood

I don’t know if anyone has filled you in on this little tidbit yet, but when it comes to children – one plus one does not equal two.

I’m fully exhausted by the time we get out the door to go anywhere or do anything. It is a bona-fide miracle when all four of us all get out the door in clean clothes and on time.

Just kidding, the on time thing never happens.

On Easter, for example, we planned to leave for church at 9 a.m.  I started getting myself and the kids ready at 7 a.m.

We left the house at 9:10.

Why? Because we’re in the circus season.

With a three year old and a seven month old, someone is bound to be having an off morning. One is hungry while the other is throwing a fit. The baby blows out a diaper at the same time that the three year old spills milk down her shirt. The baby needs to nurse, again, and the three year old doesn’t want to brush her teeth.

There’s. Always. Something.

The deceiving thing is that my children are, for the most part, really well behaved in public. So when we walked into church yesterday morning, we had the appearance of being very put together people. The boy cooed in his carrier. My daughter walked sweetly by my side.

I felt the glances of strangers as we walked by. Eyes that reflected their own happy memories. Smiles that spoke of sweet moments with small children. And I felt like a bit of a fraud. 

While I so appreciate those looks, because they remind me of how fleeting this season is, yesterday so much of me wanted to scream, “you don’t know what we went through to get here!”

My daughter’s shoes hurt her feet and she battled me for at least 10 minutes about a band-aid. The baby started to spit up the moment I got him dressed in his special Easter outfit and as a reflex I leaned him forward…so the spit up went all over me instead. My daughter was extra clingy and insisted on joining me in the shower…I could go on for an entire post with our morning hijinks.

Needless to say, I was totally frazzled, and that was before we walked through the doors of our more crowded than usual church.

So by the time we made it to our go-to breakfast spot after church, I was whipped. Our favorite waitress came over to take our order and asked how we were.

“Oh, just a circus as usual!” I laughed.

Because in so many ways, I feel like a ringmaster. On any given day I’m walking the tightrope of managing threenager feelings, making funny clown faces to make the baby giggle, and juggling ALL the things just to keep our lives moving.

The line between circus side show and mother of small children for me, is so blurred.  And maybe it never ends – this circus season. The acts may change, but life may not ever be calm and carefree until these babies are all grown up.

And I’ll miss this crazy circus life when that happens. 

 

 

 

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Drink the Rainbow: 6 Infused Waters Your Kids Will LOVE

rainbow water

When it comes to getting my children to eat healthy, I’ve learned that it’s all in the presentation.

No sweetheart, that’s not a pouch full of pureed prunes, that’s a smoothie!

…and so on.

Drinks are no exception. Especially now that we’ve hit the birthday party circuit – juice abounds and anything else can be a tough sell! We can get G jazzed about drinking milk or water 99% of the time, but that remaining 1% can be a real doozie.

Enter: Fruit infused water.

Now, I’m no fool. I know that plunking some fruit into some H20 isn’t enough to con your kid into drinking something that didn’t come in a cardboard box.

So here’s how you frame it:

Tell them they’re drinking a rainbow. 

Talk about the colors of the rainbow and what fruits you can use. Then, and this part is key, let THEM choose the fruits to use. That puts the ball in their court, and I’ve found when my three year old feels in control and is selecting from the healthy choices laid out for her, we all win.

Pro Tips:

  • Keep soft fruits like berries and lemons big & chunky so they will hold up a little longer. Hard fruits, like apples, should be sliced thin so they release flavor more easily.
  • Think sweet! You may love the crisp freshness of an herbaceous cucumber water, but your toddler may not agree.
  • Get creative! Mix & match flavors to see what you like and don’t like. Let it be a learning experience – like a delicious science lab in your very own kitchen!

Fruits to Use:

  • Red: Strawberries, Raspberries, Watermelon, Red Apple
  • Orange: Oranges, Clementines, Cantaloupe
  • Yellow: Lemon, Pineapple, Mango, Yellow Pear
  • Green: Kiwi, Green Apple, Pear, Honeydew
  • Blue: Blueberries
  • Purple: Blackberries

(I skipped indigo which is killing my inner rule-following perfectionist. But honestly. INDIGO? That’s not in my 3 year old’s crayon box so it’s not on this list either. Whatever, man. Get outta my rainbow, indigo). 

What You Need:

Need some more inspiration? Check out this rainbow of recipes:

Red Strawberry Infused Water

via The Food Network

 

Orange and Vanilla Infused Water

via the Detoxinista

 

Yellow Pineapple Mint Infused Water

via That Girl Cooks Healthy

Green Honeydew Sage Infused Water

via infusedwaters.com

 

Blue Blueberry Infused Water

via Stockpiling Moms

 

Purple Blackberry Citrus Infused Water

via The Pretty Bee

 

Happy Hydrating!

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I Have No Idea What I’m Doing

Let’s be real.  If you saw me right now you’d probably say, “wow, she looks tired.” And you might (correctly) assume that I’m not getting enough sleep. Which makes sense, I’m a momma to a three-year-old and a seven-month-old.

But here’s what makes me tired: Parenting.

And I don’t mean diapering and bottle making and soothing a child to sleep. I have those things down (see above photo: totally nailing it).

It’s the question answering and land-mine dodging and discipline enforcing aspect that Wears. Me. Out.

Why? That’s simple.

On any given day in this whole parenting charade, I have no idea what in the heck I’m doing.

My parenting “style” is best described as “Throw everything against a wall and see what sticks”.

I’m not sure if that’s the result of being the first of our close friends to have a child, or if that’s just my impatient nature manifesting itself in my parenting choices.

Either way, it’s keeping life interesting. Especially as my three-year-old grows in independence.

For example, just the other day I asked her to pick her books up off the kitchen floor. At least twice, (maybe three times).

When I glanced back at her from switching a load of laundry and noticed she was pretty much ignoring me, I kicked it into full mean momma mode.

Sister, pick those books up Right. This. Minute. I need to see your feet moving or those books will be mine. One…two…

Momma! Say please. I can’t hear you unless you say please.

Ya’ll. What do I even do with that? Which lesson do I choose – manners or obedience? And can we take a moment to recognize how hard it is to not die laughing when your child says something like that to you?

She’s outsmarting me already. Houston, we have a problem.

Most days, I feel like I get through and my sanity is hanging on a thread. Occasionally I have a day where I feel like I earned a “mother of the year” award…but that’s rare.

More often than not, I’d be doing back flips if I reached mediocre status.

I am forever making choices, setting expectations, then pivoting and reassessing when I don’t like the outcomes or I realize that my expectations were way too high or way too low.

And that’s not even taking into considerations the curve ball questions my daughter hurls at me at record speed. I had to try to explain to her why she can’t go play in a cemetery a few weeks ago. She had a LOT of (loudly asked) questions about the homeless woman doing a crossword puzzle at the coffee shop we visited last weekend. And I could probably write an entire post on the questions she’s asked since baby brother arrived on the scene.

Shared bathtime is lots of fun, ya’ll. 

Do all parents feel this way? Does anyone feel like they have their road map set out and they’re just trotting along a reliable path?

Parenthood is full of more twists and turns and loops than I ever anticipated, which is hard for this type A, “set a goal and then meet it” momma. I want the guidebook that says “here’s how you turn these humans you created into caring, productive adults who will need only a little therapy.”

(Because everyone needs a little therapy. Therapy is the best, ya’ll).

So until I receive my copy of that book, I’m just going to continue winging it. Don’t be alarmed if you see me wide-eyed and crossing my fingers while disciplining my child at Target.

Literally, no idea what I’m doing. 

Let’s all just hope for the best.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by & filed under Motherhood, The Boy, The Girl. This post has 6 comments.