While it may seem like it goes without saying - while I'm home on maternity leave I'm determined to not only survive, but thrive as a stay at home mom, however temporary it may or may not be. Truthfully it's a pretty lofty goal because it's not my nature to cook or clean. or keep a house. Today has been my first official day by myself (my mom was here for almost two weeks and then my dad came the day after my mom left for a week). While my mom was visiting she made a really good chicken stew that even Justin liked, despite the fact that *gasp* it had vegetables in it, so I decided to give it a try during Bella’s nap...
1. Open chicken broth cans and figure out what the frick buillion is
1a. Spend 20 minutes like Indiana Jones searching for the right pot in the garage
2. Start carving the meat off the roasted chicken and quickly realize it’s much more effective to just rip it apart, discover it’s a stress reducer too!
2a. Pause because Austin woke up from his nap and needs to be fed
2b. Play Indiana Jones again looking for Austin’s bouncer in the garage
2c. Put Bella back to bed and make mental note to get one of those baby locks for her door
3. Finish cutting the chicken, start cutting the celery
3a. Admit defeat to Bella and call naptime 90 minutes early
3b. Empty the pantry for snacktime, the girl can put some food away!
4. Finish the celery, quickly empty some frozen corn into the pot, feverishly try to cut some carrots before the next interrupt...
4a. Dance with Bella
4b. Continue with the carrots
4c. Dance Bella downstairs for some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so I can finish
5. Finish the carrots, call Pops and ask if the ginormous veggie is indeed a leek
5a. Decide against the leek (wtf?!) and prepare to cut the potatoes
5b. Notice Austin has exploded from both ends while in his bouncer
5c. Cry a little
5d. Impromptu bath time - Austin cries a lot
5e. Notice Bella’s fallen asleep during Mickey Mouse, send up a quick “thank you”
6. Peel and cut the potatoes, turn the burner on and get the stew going
6a. Take a minute to myself to get back to blogging so I feel like me again
6b. Realize the “soft boil” I was supposed to bring it to is now like a raging hot tub - meh
SO needless to say, this won’t come naturally… not sure that was supposed to take three hours, but I’ll be alright. I can handle this. at least here’s hoping!
7 comments:
This sounds exactly right to me.
It's a process. It sounds like you did a great job!
Yup, you did great! Moms learn to add "interruptions" into the normal preparation times in recipes. :) But don't worry, it will get easier!! And it's a LIFESAVER when you get your little guy adjusted enough to actually have a naptime at the SAME time as his big sister. That is definitely the time of the day I regain my composure (& my least productive time of the day, oddly enough!)
Haha! I love you! Thanks for this ultra-honest glimpe into the life of a mom of 2. I KNOW you're doing great. :)
xxooxxoo
I'M PROUD OF YOU!!
Just repeat this mantra:
* There is a light at the end of the [frustrating but glorious] tunnel
* It will all get easier
* Even the mundane tasks consuming my time right now are the most important things that I could be doing in this particular episode of my life
I don't really know if 24/7 motherhood is really in anyone's nature. I DO know that determination and embracing challenges are in YOUR nature.
So.
Love you!
Mom
What a sweet (and perfectly said) comment from your mom!
I was going to say- it DOES get better, but she pegged it.
You are an awesome Mom!
I love this. You're doing great Mama.
That was HILARIOUS!! I loved it, and it's so true. Thanks to you I'm terrified to try and have another kid though. JK ;)
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