Multitasking Mommy

Any one who has ever stood in the playground having a conversation with a fellow parent whilst keeping a keen eye on two children knows the importance of multitasking.

In fact, without this skill, I would go as far as to say that parenting would be nigh on impossible unless you are a hermit who is happy to live a solitary lifestyle for the next 18 years. Mom's, I have discovered, seem to have this skill finely tuned by the time their child reaches 18 months, and certainly it is honed to perfection when a second, third (or fourth!) sibling comes along. 

It is quite amazing how much you can achieve with a baby in your arms or a toddler on your hip. I have been known to cook dinners, wash floors, make phone calls and do multiple grocery shops in this exact position, and when you are sans child your productivity goes into overdrive. Who knew you could prepare the evening dinner, answer emails, write blogs, hoover carpets AND paint your nails in that two hour window? 

I don't think that multitasking is something that is a natural gift bestowed only to women (contrary to popular opinion), however I do think that we have to use it far more often than our male counterparts, and as the saying goes, practice makes perfect! Women are expected to be an awful lot of things, I can switch hats six times a day between wife/mother/writer/friend/daughter/pastor and although I cherish each and every role that I have been entrusted with, I often have to stop and think when do I get to put the 'me' hat on? So this evening, when my boys are in bed and my chores are done, I will be curling up on the sofa with a good book and a hot chocolate to indulge in some much needed me-time. Why don't you join me?

R x

It's you or the house....

Does anyone else feel like managing a family and running a household is an impossible task?

From day to day, I seem to run from one thing to another, with precious little 'me-time', all while trying to maintain the air of coolness and sophistication that accompanies the carefree lifestyle of those who don't have to hunt for lost shoes/dummies/book bags each morning. 

Today's schedule looked like this: get woken up, before my alarm by my eldest, feed the boys, grab cuppa, dress boys and myself, apply bb cream and lippy in half light of dawn, walk to school, walk back, put on laundry load, sweep up breakfast crumbs while playing hide and seek with my toddler, chase said toddler around local toddler group, come home to feed toddler, put him down for a nap, switch on laptop and catch up on emails and articles in between mouthfuls of a hastily made salad, wake toddler, put laundry out to dry, walk to school to collect 5yo, walk home, begin process of entertaining and feeding boys whilst cooking dinner and washing up breakfast dishes before hubby comes home. Upon his arrival, bath kids before dinner, put them to bed, eat dinner, drive to grocery store for weekly food shop, drive home to unpack grocery bags, write menu for the following week, check school bag and change bag and fill water bottles and depleted items, check on boys and iron uniform for next day, finally lock up and check cats are fed and watered with clean litter tray. 

I am exhausted!! In amongst all these chores I desperately want my house to remain clean to the high standard it was pre-children, and I want to maintain a half decent appearance so that my husband will recognise the wife of his youth and not be faced with a dishevelled, tired looking stranger when he walks through the door. More importantly I want to enjoy some quality time with my husband, talking, playing games, watching movies not to mention being close to one another physically.

But how on earth do people find the time to be the perfect wife/girlfriend/mother/friend/cook/housewife?

My hubby is amazing and helps no end in the house and especially with the boys, but I do find myself regularly thinking I just cannot keep up with everything and there is always something that suffers from my multitasking mayhem. I can be the perfect sex kitten wife with happy kids and a trashed house or a house proud stepford wife with immaculate floors, bored kids and a frustrated husband. And that's not even talking into account my working hours!

So my darling boys (big and small), I feel I must say that my attention can only be split so many ways during the day, so you just choose - it's you or the house! ;)

R x 

Embrace the place you are in

If I had a pound for every time a mommy friend welcomed me into her home saying "please excuse the mess" then I would be a very rich woman.

The truth is unless you have a live in housekeeper (or OCD) if you have children in your home then it WILL be messy. End of. Why moms feel the need to constantly keep up appearances for guests is beyond me, yet I fall foul of this every time I set a play date with fellow moms too.

As women I think we feel a lot of pressure to 'be' something, whether that is to be the perfect wife, perfect mom, perfect cook or perfect friend, and although I believe it is good to have goals and dream big we need to face reality that sometimes things won't be quite as picture perfect as we would like.

I have never once gone into a friends house and judged her by the state of the carpets as I picked my way through the lego bricks and happy land figures in the hallway to get to the kitchen. I have never once thought gosh you would think she would have washed the breakfast dishes up by 2pm, I have never wrinkled my nose in disgust at the crumbs on the sofa or the grubby finger marks on the walls and windows. In fact when I enter a friends house and it is in a slight state of disarray I inwardly relax, glad that its not just me then, and I feel less uptight about the mess that my own children are about to create from the toybox...

Furthermore, I have never met a mom who wished she had spent less time with her children, and if that is one legacy I want to leave with them it is that mommy was always there and always ready to play.

So what I would like to encourage you in is this; your little ones will not stay little forever. This season of having small people under your feet will fly by with no disregard for your heart as you watch them grow. They will not always follow you around with endless requests to play/give snacks/give drinks/read stories. One day they will find their feet and start their own journey through life, with minimal input from you, so fellow moms I urge you (and myself) to put down the duster, unplug the hoover and embrace the place you are in.

R