The adventures of a girl aspiring to be many somethings, including (but not limited to) a pretty good wife, a passable mom, a decent human being, and a humor blogger whose posts you actually want to read.
I'm a mom. Yep. When I'm alone. When I'm with my kids. When I'm at home. When I'm in public. I'm a mom. I feel it in the depths of my being. It's in every creak of my bones. It's the undertone of every thought I have and word I speak. My kids are the foreground of my life and the background on my phone. They are absolutely everything to me. I'm a mom.
More and more I'm realizing that if there's something in the uncertain waters I know is worth diving in for, I've just got to hold my breath and take the plunge.
More than once, I have found myself shaking my head as I ask myself, Is this what I signed up for? And then I realize that, as a parent, whether I knew it or not at the time, this is exactly what I signed up for.
A friend of mine recently posted an Instagram story featuring some of the lies she has told her kids to make her life as a parent a little bit easier and a lot more entertaining. When I saw her post, it inspired me to do a little digging to see what kinds of stories other parents are telling their kids to help them get through the day with a chuckle or two. When I originally posted the question, I thought I was going to get a huge variety of crazy answers, but what I found instead was kind of fascinating. Imagine my surprise when, over the course of a couple of days, I started to realize that we are all lying to our kids about the same things.
Some days, it's hard to get out of bed. I certainly don't get paid enough for some of the things this job entails (and by enough, I mean at all), but something keeps me coming back.
You know that story, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? Isn't motherhood like that sometimes, only with less cookies and more chores?
Maybe subconsciously I was feeling a bit guilty about leaving my son to have some time to myself, but I don't think that it's fair for moms to have to feel this way. Being a mom brings me incredible joy, but it's important for me to remember that, while it's a part of my identity, it's not the only thing that defines me. I'm allowed to do things for myself and have time alone; it helps me to appreciate the time that I do spend with my son and not take those moments for granted.
To be totally honest, as far as children’s television goes, PAW Patrol is not so bad. The storylines are entertaining enough, the dogs are cute, and the ever-important themes of trying your best and working hard run rampant. That being said, watching this show on a fairly regular basis has started to get me wondering about a few things, and I felt that a blog post would be a good place to get them off my chest.
I am a teacher. I am also a parent. Because my son is only one, I have yet to attend a parent-teacher conference from the other side of the desk, but I know that in about 4 years, they will become a thrice-annual part of my life. Because I'm a teacher, I've begun to stockpile advice for my future self to be mindful of when attending these thrilling events, and I thought it would only be right to share these little tidbits with all three of you reading this post. So here you go.
Moms - have you ever wished that you could spend one day in the life of a dad, just to see what it's like to do the things you never get to do? You know, like peeing standing up and saving the dishes for an undisclosed amount of time only vaguely referred to as "later"? Sometimes I [...]
THE ASPIRING SOMETHING 