Monday, December 1, 2008

The Absentee Blogger

I know I've been an absentee blogger, and trust me, I have plenty to blog about! But my reason for not throwing up fascinating and thought-provoking posts (heh heh) is because of a simple fact:
Being a mother and homekeeper is like...a job.

When I'm on the computer too much, I'm not doing my job. For the last several weeks I have been feeling very behind on everything. It seemed like I was always two steps behind on housework and dinner prep. I wasn't planning for meals very well so often I would find myself sans the appropriate ingredients. The house was sort of picked up...but not really. Nothing was getting scrubbed. Laundry was always behind. But what topped it all off were the children. Lots of fighting and whining. It was taking forever to get from point A to point B with Frannie on everything. "Frannie let's do your hair." "Time to get dressed." "We've got to pick up your bedroom." "Put your shoes on." Everything was met with dragging feet and resistance and lots of laughing and silliness to try and get out of doing what needs to be done. I found myself getting very frustrated with her and with the kids in general.

But on this one it all came back to mom.

I have to be the leader in this household. I can't just react to the day, I have to to orchestrate it. Plan it. Move from one thing to the next so that my kids follow me instead of me dragging myself after them all of the time.

So, after breakfast it's directly to straightening up the house. Then kids get their clothes on and hair brushed. Then any upstairs chores. They play and follow me around and stuff. And help clean. With the routine it is a much faster process to get them dressed and ready.

Usually around 11 am we go somewhere, but not always.

As long as the morning gets off to a good start, things seem to fall into place for the rest of the day.

All of this leaves for much less time on the computer. By the end of the day when the kids are asleep and I actually have time to get on, it's usually just a check of the emails, responding to Bradley requests, and reading everyone else's blog. Not a lot of time to upload pics and write my own.

So I guess the fact that I've been an absentee blogger is a good thing. Because it means that my house is a lot cleaner, my kids are behaving a lot better, and we're eating something good for dinner.

2 comments:

Lauren S. said...

"I can't just react to the day, I have to to orchestrate it."

So true. I find myself shuffling between those two modes.

JennyLynn said...

I could have written your post. I have been dealing with all these same struggles. It made me feel better to read this.