Yesterday I took my kids to a birthday party. One of the moms there had her newborn son in her arms. He was born the day after Peanut. That little baby is currently weighing in at 8 pounds. My Peanut is a whopping 10. She looked so enormous next to this little boy. It was so funny!
Anyway, the mom with the little boy said, I heard you had your baby at home. I told her I did. The question I get asked every time someone finds out that I did that was would I do it again. My answer is yes! I would do it again. I wish I had done it sooner than baby #5. She then asks if I was worried if something would go wrong. No, I never worried. I had faith in my midwives. That was something I never had with the doctors. We talk about home birth a bit longer, then the conversation ends with, wow, you are just amazing to do that.
No I'm not. I just did what was natural and with what I felt was best.
Our present to this little friend who's party it was was an outfit I sewed for her and some cloth diapers I had sewn for Peanut and made them way to small for my 9 pound baby. These little cloth diapers are the perfect size for a baby doll. My daughter plays with them and changes her baby's diapers over and over. The conversation turns back to me. You made this? Wow, how do you do it? How do you find time with a newborn? Well, right now it is easy. Peanut is a newborn and spends most of her time asleep. When she is awake, she has four siblings who fight to hold her. I can easily have one of my three older children hold Peanut while I work on something.
Then they ask, you were going to use cloth diapers? Yes, and I'm still planning on doing it. The reason she is not in cloth diapers right now is because she was given 3 large boxes of size 1 diapers. I'm going to make good use of those diapers before she outgrows them.
My friend mentioned that I painted my kitchen cabinets when Peanut was 5 days old. I had my mom and Mom did more work on it than I did. It wasn't anything spectacular.
Anyway, these ladies are just saying you are so super, you are Superwoman. I smile and thank them, but inside I'm ready to cry. No I'm not. I'm not Superwoman. Come to my house - you will see dishes in the sink, a carpet way over due for a vacuuming, toys all over the floor, a pile of laundry waiting to be washed and a lot of clutter. Spend some time with my children - you will hear a lot of arguing, teasing, and my toddler doing a lot of screaming. Listen to me at the end of the day. I'm short tempered with my children, and I "raise my voice" often at them. I wouldn't have to raise my voice if they would just behave or do what I ask when I ask them to take their part in helping to care for the house. If I were Superwoman, my house would be clean and my children would not find pleasure in annoying and teasing each other. If I were Superwoman, I wouldn't be overweight and I wouldn't raise my voice at my children.
I'm not super. I just live day to day. I am a stay-at-home mom. That is all.
2 comments:
Sis, if I recall from our family album, you weren't superwoman, but wonderwoman. Whatever happened to that underwear? Maybe you could use your sewing skills and make yourself a little tank top with blue silk panties with stars on them. And, you could make a cape. Then you could wear that around your house when you do housework. How awesome would that be? "Do what I say children, for I am WONDERWOMAN!"
Just kidding...you are a great mother and do a great job. Everyone has their vice and their virtue. Your vice: doing the dishes. Your virtue: having the guts to have more than the average 2.5 kids, then staying home to give them the best start in life. You may not be Superwoman, but you'll always be Wonderwoman to me!:)
I could just see your prancing around the house in your wonderwoman getup, that would be hilariously awesome. You should get one and get hubby some tights and he could be batman or something.
It's true, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and I think your strengths are just weaknesses to a lot of people.
Post a Comment