Supermom Envy

I admit, I have supermom envy. I also admit that I sometimes fantasize that one day I can be as awesome as the mom's in all those parenting magazines. Those magazines that sat out for weeks after they arrived, then were put in the coffee table drawers, nearly always unread. They are still in those drawers. Well, I recycled some too, after getting all the coupons I wanted out of them of course.

Since I don't read the magazines that tell you how to be a Supermom, Facebook has been a savior of sorts, especially since choosing to stay home. I can talk to mom's I actually know, get advice and of course, just stay in touch in general which helps keep me sane. BUT, some days, it also leads to lots of Supermom envy.

When I hear a friend talk about the new food they made for their bundle of joy I think, dang, Supermom! Especially if they have more than one child. Who has the time, especially to go to the store ensure you have fresh produce available? Right, Supermom does. Now, I have made both my kids baby food, but not regularly. Reading the labels seemed easier and at times settling for ones that weren't perfect, even easier. Which leads to the, I gave my baby preservatives, mom guilt. Supermom always avoids preservatives in their kid's food.

I think the same thing when I hear of the many friends who announce they are expecting their 4th child! Planned forth child, FORTH! Holy supermom batman! I mean, I feel like I'm half insane most days so I would definitely be a goner if I doubled the action. How did my grandma have 11? Sure, that was a different era of child raising but there are the Duggers who, bless their hearts, are out of their minds as far as I'm concerned! Not a judgement, they are just part of those Superparents I shake my head and think, WOW, how do they do it? I wish I had enough patience for more...and money for them all to go to college.

Then there's the mom's that work outside of the home and do all the mommy stuff at home and the single mom's...how do they do it? Supermom's. That must be it.

I often wonder who the parents are from those magazines I took the coupons from and recycled. Parents must actually do these things if they are writing about all these tips and oh so fun ideas. The best I do is cut Rylie's pizza or peanut butter sandwich into triangles, not that it makes a bit of difference if she eats it or not! Heck, Caleb eats off the floor and pretty much anything you put in front of him, so no need to get fancy there. Then, I recently saw a picture a mom posted on facebook of pancakes for breakfast with various fruit placed in the shape of a smiley face. Who has time to make pancakes, I thought?! Supermom for sure. Well, I used to make Rylie blueberry pancakes but it was just her and I never did cool fruit decorations.

This super mom list goes on and on and the list makes me start to feel a bit  like a crappy mom for just trying to survive most of my days. That's my goal, survival. And not to yell.

I tend to judge my Supermom abilities of the day while I'm getting dinner ready. If I'm frantic and feeling a bit like I'm losing my mind, I probably had a very nonsupermomish type of day. There was probably yelling involved. Some days I think I didn't do all that great but once I start weighing the pros and cons and think, hmmm, I did all that? Maybe not Supermom but not bad, mom! Every now and then, I think, hell ya! Today was a middle of the road type of day.

I thought I spent more time playing with the kids than normal. I always feel bad about this one. I don't sit and play doll house for an hour or play pretend talk on the phone over and over... well, I do but that's what, 10 minutes? 10 grueling minutes of hello, who's this, what did you do today on repeat. I'm also not great with the crafty stuff. In fact, painting activities take a lot of gearing up on my part. I actually hide my poor kid's easel so she doesn't get the idea too often and I don't have to deal with a tantrum for saying no because I just can't deal with the mess every day. Though, I saved a bunch of the Family Fun magazines that have super fun craft ideas that I tell myself we'll do....someday. It was also a Facebook sort of day so playing
included looking at my phone every 5 minutes to break up the monotony.
Nope, not Supermom. Supermom doesn't look at her phone while playing and loves to play monotonous toddler games, like stacking blocks, peg puzzles and throwing a ball and over and over and over. Don't get me started on all the fun summer activities, oh how sand and water are a delight. Family fun days at the park rock and books are fun for everyone though!

I made Caleb apples and carrots. Easy now, he's one, I just needed to dice and boil. Turns out, he didn't like the apples, go figure. And for some reason I couldn't get diced carrots to soften enough. Supermom can get carrots soft. Monkeys can get carrots soft enough for a one year old! So, I gave him the "bad for you" ones from a plastic cup. They have salt. Salt guilt. I rinsed them off in effort to convince myself it's nearly the same as the ones I tried to make. Since the kid eats like a horse, especially for dinner, I ran out of what was planned so I gave him the rest of his peaches from breakfast and as I looked at his food I thought, crap, all his food is orange! (He also had tomato soup) Not Supermom. Then I remembered one of those Supermom articles about having a color of the day to teach your toddler colors and how you can incorporate that into their meals, well, there you go! Today's color was orange...I didn't tell him that though, does it still count?

Rylie peed on the potty 3 times today! She's been refusing to go for the past week. One time, during nap, she asked to wear panties after. I figured sure, she just peed so we should be fine, but I put a diaper over top just in case. She pooped her panties... still during nap. Some of that poop got on our bedspread. I found it when I went to lay with her, praying she would sleep after all this. She never napped. Another time was 1/2 in the potty and 1/2 on floor and bath rug. I am unsure if it was on purpose.

Washed bedspread, changed sheets, cleaned bath rug.

Since I was in the laundry room anyway, I folded and put away some laundry from yesterday... not all of it. Damn, Supermom would have finished all of it.

I mopped downstairs, my least favorite chore. Didn't mop upstairs though. Not supermom. I did unload the dishwasher, maybe that can count.

Phone calls.... Called express scripts to check on kids prescriptions. They never got Caleb's. Of course not. Called his doctor. Put request in for more gravel from the city, which I had to look up and figure out the right department to call. This was on our 30 something to do list (over half done!) so bonus points for sure. Scheduled dentist appointment for Rylie... it's for tomorrow because she was on the wait list and there was a cancellation. It's during nap, great, can't wait.

I finally hung Caleb's growth chart. On my mental to do list...for the past 3 weeks. My hunt for nails to hang it led me to clear the counter and a junk drawer. Definite Supermom bonus points because that counter clutter is a daily, I am not Supermom, reminder.

Plus all the typical.... breakfast, cleanup, lunch, clean up, dinner, snacks and the constant reminder for Caleb to drink his milk. He's not very excited about the transition from nursing. Mommy guilt that I may be weaning him before he's ready... Not Supermom. Supermom doesn't care that American society looks at those who nurse after one with a judgy, that's odd, sort of look.

I remembered my vitamins and allergy pill! This is huge. Kids got their meds, dog got his prozac, can't forget that! Fed dog, forgot to give him dinner. Oops. Cleaned mud off the dog's paws 3 times, rainy days suck when you have a dog. Hunted the ants that are already back... forgot to call Orkin about them. Changed 6 poops, yes 6. Ok, I'll give myself a nod for that.

Forgot to get the mail...it's raining and our mailman doesn't like to close the box for some reason. I never got dressed, ummm, yeah, that means I also forgot to shower. Oops again. No nap days get me with the shower thing every time. Supermom showers.

And does her hair

And gets dressed

Everyday.

Oh and Rylie lost an earring. I was worried all day that Caleb would find it and eat it. But I found it...while changing the sheets. Even found the back.  I'll go with luck on that one though.

My mom recently told me, "I did the best I could". My daily run down of if I had my cape on or barely survived the day reminds me, that's really all any parent can do. I may not be Supermom everyday, but I doubt the Supermom's I envy are either. And that's ok.


Besides, I have Superboy's smile to save the day :-P