A Year in the Life
Wow, my last post was about a year ago. The time flew by. But having a new baby will do that to you. I all the sudden do not have time for anything. I thought I didn't have time before but now I really don't have time. Taking care of a little human is time consuming and all hands on deck type of situation. Harper is the BEST thing to happen to me and I love every moment with her and I would not trade that for anything. But that is what inspired this blog post. Honestly within the past year I have not felt inspired to write. I feel as if our life is pretty basic and boring now and there is nothing inspiring to write about. And the fact that as soon as Harper falls asleep for the night I want to sleep as well. She still wakes up during the night at least once or she just wakes up really early in the morning and keeps me up so I end up really tired at the end of the day. I WISH I had all the energy like other moms or maybe they just hide it well. I will get into that later though. Anyways, I wish I had juicy topics to discuss but this one will probably just go over how I think I am failing but in reality its probably the norm for a mother.
Lets just jump right in shall we. I feel like social media and the Internet allows people to show their best self which isn't always their true self or their reality. Whatever, you do you boo boo. But that can make others feel like a failure or that they are doing things wrong. Especially when it comes to motherhood. I know I compare myself to all these beautiful Instagram moms and their perfectly clean houses and glowing children. That could be their reality for all I know and good for them. However, my reality which I believe I share with many mothers is the following.
I work. Yeah I am a working mom. Kinda have to work to live the life we want to live. And also, I don't think I could not work. I might go stir crazy. I was jobless for two months when we moved and that was enough for me. Anyways, My commute is about an hour each way. My day is 9 hours including lunch. So during the week days I see my daughter for roughly 3 hours a day. One hour in the morning and then maybe 2 hours when I get home from work before her bed time. It breaks my heart I can't see her more. But when I do see her I want to enjoy that time with her. I don't really want to spend my time home during the week cleaning the house or doing the dishes. I would rather be snuggling her. Giving her a bath, reading to her or playing with her. All before she goes to sleep. And then as stated before, when she finally does go to bed for the night I then have to take care of myself. I need to shower or get work clothes and items ready for the next day. Sometimes prepare some lunches or do laundry and pick up all the toys we just played with. Sometimes I do that and other days I just go right to bed after she does and the house remains a mess for another day and no lunches are prepped. Honestly a lot of the time I just binge on Netflix for a little while after she is asleep and the husband is busy with sports or other man stuff. But that's taking care of me. And that's okay. I feel bad some days that I should be more productive. I could be writing a blog, or painting or vacuuming. But instead what I want to do is freaking binge on Gilmore Girls for the umpteenth time. And that's okay!
I like to pretend I am an Instagram mom. I like to pretend I can keep the house clean. Keep Harper clean and dressed like a baby model every day. Have breakfast, lunch and dinner ready to go everyday. Nope. Breakfast is whatever we can grab on the way out of the house. Lunch is probably leftovers or a micro meal. And dinner, thank goodness for hubby because he makes dinner almost every day. I wish I could meal prep and have like 10 Tupperware full of Keto friendly diet food for my fit family. But no. No time. No will power to do so. I also wish I could work out daily. Maybe even use Harper as weights and do cute photo shoots while we work out together. But nah. I consider my exercise chasing her around and jumping up to stop her form eating dog food or dust bunnies. I would like to have that tight tummy these Insta moms seem to have right after having a baby but food is so good. And there are the moms who say you can work out, you don't need to have the mom bod. Good. Great. I guess I am lazy. I like my body. I am 20 lbs lighter than I was before I was pregnant. I am just a twig though. No muscle. But I like my body. I really do want to get stronger and in better shape if you will. But its okay if I don't devote hours to the gym or to a home workout. We do things. We ride bikes, go for walks, hikes (even though its been a lil minute on that one.) Just don't make me feel like a bad mom because I don't devote daily time to my workout routine.
I guess my point is whatever you are doing is good enough. Don't compete with the other moms. Don't compare yourself to the other moms. You are doing great. It is a busy, hard, demanding job and if you kept your kiddo fed and alive another day then kudos to you! You go mama.
Lets just jump right in shall we. I feel like social media and the Internet allows people to show their best self which isn't always their true self or their reality. Whatever, you do you boo boo. But that can make others feel like a failure or that they are doing things wrong. Especially when it comes to motherhood. I know I compare myself to all these beautiful Instagram moms and their perfectly clean houses and glowing children. That could be their reality for all I know and good for them. However, my reality which I believe I share with many mothers is the following.
I work. Yeah I am a working mom. Kinda have to work to live the life we want to live. And also, I don't think I could not work. I might go stir crazy. I was jobless for two months when we moved and that was enough for me. Anyways, My commute is about an hour each way. My day is 9 hours including lunch. So during the week days I see my daughter for roughly 3 hours a day. One hour in the morning and then maybe 2 hours when I get home from work before her bed time. It breaks my heart I can't see her more. But when I do see her I want to enjoy that time with her. I don't really want to spend my time home during the week cleaning the house or doing the dishes. I would rather be snuggling her. Giving her a bath, reading to her or playing with her. All before she goes to sleep. And then as stated before, when she finally does go to bed for the night I then have to take care of myself. I need to shower or get work clothes and items ready for the next day. Sometimes prepare some lunches or do laundry and pick up all the toys we just played with. Sometimes I do that and other days I just go right to bed after she does and the house remains a mess for another day and no lunches are prepped. Honestly a lot of the time I just binge on Netflix for a little while after she is asleep and the husband is busy with sports or other man stuff. But that's taking care of me. And that's okay. I feel bad some days that I should be more productive. I could be writing a blog, or painting or vacuuming. But instead what I want to do is freaking binge on Gilmore Girls for the umpteenth time. And that's okay!
I like to pretend I am an Instagram mom. I like to pretend I can keep the house clean. Keep Harper clean and dressed like a baby model every day. Have breakfast, lunch and dinner ready to go everyday. Nope. Breakfast is whatever we can grab on the way out of the house. Lunch is probably leftovers or a micro meal. And dinner, thank goodness for hubby because he makes dinner almost every day. I wish I could meal prep and have like 10 Tupperware full of Keto friendly diet food for my fit family. But no. No time. No will power to do so. I also wish I could work out daily. Maybe even use Harper as weights and do cute photo shoots while we work out together. But nah. I consider my exercise chasing her around and jumping up to stop her form eating dog food or dust bunnies. I would like to have that tight tummy these Insta moms seem to have right after having a baby but food is so good. And there are the moms who say you can work out, you don't need to have the mom bod. Good. Great. I guess I am lazy. I like my body. I am 20 lbs lighter than I was before I was pregnant. I am just a twig though. No muscle. But I like my body. I really do want to get stronger and in better shape if you will. But its okay if I don't devote hours to the gym or to a home workout. We do things. We ride bikes, go for walks, hikes (even though its been a lil minute on that one.) Just don't make me feel like a bad mom because I don't devote daily time to my workout routine.
I guess my point is whatever you are doing is good enough. Don't compete with the other moms. Don't compare yourself to the other moms. You are doing great. It is a busy, hard, demanding job and if you kept your kiddo fed and alive another day then kudos to you! You go mama.
Love the last paragraph. You’re doing great, Jess. I think you’d be surprised how people see you compared to how you see yourself. Also, just because you can’t paint or workout or necessarily do things you want to be doing or think you should be doing right now...doesn’t mean that you won’t ever or even soon! Harper requires a lot right now and this point in time is just one stage of motherhood and a tiny picture of this whole kid thing. I think you’ll figure it all out and it will get easier :)
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