Let’s Be Real, I’m Not A Saint

I’m often told by people that I’m a saint.  That they don’t know how I do it.  That I’m amazing and such a role model.

It always makes my day when I hear those words.  I think all Moms need to hear those words often.  We tend to self-doubt and battle Mommy guilt on the daily so it’s always a pleasant surprise to be recognized for the hard work that is ongoing as a Mommy.

But I just want to let you all know that I’m not a saint, nor have I ever claimed to be.

notasaintI have hard days too.

This past weekend we did another clean-out with Brian.  When we do clean outs we can’t leave our home, I can’t even leave Brian’s side.

It’s funny, if I choose to have a day at home in the midst of lots of days filled with appointments and errands it would feel like heaven.  But give me a day or two that I don’t have a choice whether I can leave the house and it suddenly feels like a prison.

Day one wasn’t too bad.  We got through it.  We played some frisbee and Brian practiced riding a bike without training wheels.  We cleaned the house, read some books, and watched some television and YouTube.  Even got caught up on laundry, which never ever happens in this house.

Day two was another story.  Everyone was sick of being home, everyone was bored, everyone was grouchy.

The day consisted of:

  • Brian becoming extremely aggravated at me for accompanying him into the bathroom every single time.  He has so many OCD routines around his toileting and having me trying to help him through them was hard.
  • He figured out if he ran fast enough he could beat me to the bathroom and lock me out.  And laugh hysterically as I knocked on the door.
  • Me being aggravated that I couldn’t even leave the same room as Brian.  You’d think I’d get a lot more done around the house but it’s not like that.  When I say I have to be by his side, I literally had to be by his side.
  • Cleaning up poop.  Enough said.
  • When it was time to give Brian a shower he screamed bloody murder and ran through the house with blue paint on him (aftermath of an art project).
  • Corbin was soooooo BORED.  You know, because he has no idea how to entertain himself at eleven-years-old.  After he was told no more Skyrim or Minecraft and he realized his next door friends weren’t home, it was pretty much the end of the world.
  • Our internet connection sucked.  So even when I did want to let electronics babysit the kids, there was fighting because if one was streaming a movie on the Playstation the other couldn’t connect to YouTube on the laptop.
  • Corbin read an article that there wasn’t going to be a third installment to the Percy Jackson series and became overly dramatic.  So dramatic he was lying on the floor, saying he couldn’t do anything else for the day because he was so depressed.  He’s going to be an actor.
  • When we were outside Brian wanted to come in.  When we finally settled down for a family movie at the end of the night, Brian wanted to go outside.
  • Even though they were annoyed with me, they wanted to be touching me all day long.  Seriously, attached at the hip (unless Brian was running to hide in the bathroom).  I get over-touched sometimes, I really just wanted to put a bubble around myself.
  • I had to fight the temptation to open a beer at 2:00.
  • I had to fight the temptation to put the children in bed at 6:00.
  • I raised my voice way more than I wanted to.
  • When it was finally bed time, I just smiled and cracked open that beer.

I’m not perfect.  I raise my voice, I wish for quiet, I get very annoyed by my kids, and I’m pretty sure they get pretty annoyed with me as well.  It happens.  It’s life.

 

Heather Nelson

About Heather Nelson

Heather resides in Rockland where she is busy juggling life as a newlywed, a mom to two boys (one of which who has autism), a part time job in direct sales, and a full-time job as a pediatric occupational therapy assistant. She has a love for live music, karaoke, and cheering on the underdogs.