Motherhood and More

A young woman gave a talk in church yesterday about things she has learned from her mother. One of the attributes she mentioned was about being calm. She said her mother never yelled, always appeared calm and didn't stress out about things. It reminded me of my Mom. I don't remember her ever yelling (although one time with Adam stands out in my mind as being pretty close) and in my memories she was always calm. I don't have many memories before the age of 10 though...and that is giving me hope.

I thought I was a patient person until I had kids. I thought I would never yell until I had kids yelling at each other. There aren't many things that get under my skin but bickering and tattling and yelling and name-calling and crying about the bickering and tattling and yelling and name-calling are way high on the list. And yes, I have yelled at them. And yes, I have lost it on more than than one occasion. But maybe if I can get things in control the girls won't have these memories...or at least not all of them. And every day I can try to do better.

Mornings are the worst. I don't see how we're going to survive with the one-sink bathroom when we have 4 teenagers. Already they're fighting about who's at the sink. They're already locking in the door to have some private time brushing their teeth (although I wonder if it's not more to bug the others). I had dreams of them loving to share a room forever and that even when given the option of their own room they would rather stay together. But getting dressed in one room is like a war zone with clothes strewn all over and casualties emerging half-dressed and dazed with who/what hit them. Meanwhile, I'm downstairs trying to feed Lucienne, get lunches made, clean up breakfast and I'm not even dressed yet.

I'm trying to wake up earlier (like 6am) so that they can get in guitar and piano practicing too. This is instead of sitting and watching tv for an hour while I try and get a little extra sleep. I feel like the couple hours between school and dinner should be their time to play and relax from working all day (before they need to help with dinner or set the table). But the time between dinner and bedtime just flies by and it's hard to get anything done.

I'm trying to fit a run or bike ride in with Amelia and the dog as soon as Rene gets home from work and have dinner made or half made so that we can eat as soon as we get home. But I'd love to do something with Evelyn too. She can't quite keep up and ends up wanting to go home halfway through. So, I'm going to try and wake up even earlier to get my run in with the dog before Rene leaves for work so that when Rene gets home I can go out with the girls and run or ride at their pace.

I'm rambling now...but these are the things that have been on my mind lately.

Things we are doing well:
We're doing some sort of Family Home Evening pretty much every Monday night - check.
We have Friday Night Movie Night (which the girls love and get so excited about) - check.
We are fitting in more physcial activity with the girls - work in progress but check.
Daddy Dates, usually a trip to Home Depot or another errand but as long as we call them a date the girls are all over it - check.
Updating this blog on somewhat of a regular basis - check so far.
Getting the girls to help out around the home with chores - kind of check...we were on the ball for a couple of months but have lost it a bit. Will need to get that going again. Saturday mornings have kind of become my time for a running group and maybe yoga class soon so we'll have to rework the time we get these chores done.


This motherhood thing is exhausting! There are so many things I want to do with them but bedtime comes too soon (and if I push that back I'm only asking for grumpy girls in the morning).

**sigh** This post was suppose to be a Mother's Day post but it turned into something else. Maybe I'll try again later!!