Steph is a Laois mammy of 3 small kids. She has started a blog to document her life as a mammy muddling through parenthood and searching for her identity in a world wider than her own four walls.
As the pandemic continues she has started a diary to describe daily life as a ‘stuck-at-home mom’.
SUNDAY
Another Sunday; another roast – if only to keep track of the days. That’s one thing I’ve tried to keep up during this relentless passing of time.
On a Sunday I do a big roast dinner with all of the trimmings. We drown our isolation sorrows in a bucket of gravy and it’s a dinner that everyone will definitely eat! I even dress in something other than leggings to try to make it feel more like a Sunday – a day for family, connection and relaxing.
We try to have a time when we are all together doing an activity, even if it is only sitting to watch a movie or gathering outside to play a game altogether. It means a lot to the kids to have us do something as a family, not just tag-team parenting to get through the day! That is a habit I will gladly keep up for a long time.
MONDAY
SUCCESS! Lockdown goal ticked off!! The 5 yr old has been in mastery of the remotes for a while now, but today, she went above and beyond. This morning she got up with her sister and brother, put their programs on the telly AND made them all breakfast! YESSS!!! Life is now made!!
Of course I was being a very dutiful parent and supervised her the whole time. I do feel, however that in order to increase her confidence and independence I will need to further step back and allow her some responsibility. Supervision from now on will be carried out at a safe distance – i.e. from my bed, with my eyes closed!
WEDNESDAY
So, today was a crappy day. Not just bad. Crappy, because the field out the back of our house got sprayed with the most toxic and noxious crap that I’ve smelled in a while.
So, we were stuck inside for the day, lest we would all end up smelling like the field. I can’t even hang clothes out on days the field gets sprayed.
The smell winds it’s way in to the fabric and remains even after the offending garments have been through the washing machine 2 more times! The joys of country living!
THURSDAY
Seriously, this rain needs to get lost!!There are only so many times I can take the 1 yr old down off the windowsill without completely losing the run of myself!
There are only so many times I can “positively encourage” the girls to stop freaking fighting and just freaking share!!
There is only so much of my husband pacing the kitchen because he needs to get outside and reset himself I can take!
I am only human, a woman yes and so capable of tolerating A LOT, but Human none the less.
So, in the immortal words, “rain, rain go away, come again another day! Mammy needs everyone to get the f out and play!”
FRIDAY
So, today I was in a vacuum cleaner commercial – oh No, wait, that’s just what it felt like when I was cleaning the kids’ bedroom.
You know that part of the ad where they show you the unrealistically messy floor and then drag the vacuum across it and it’s magically clean, well That’s what I did – but to a whole room!!
Seriously, it’s like each child took a whole packet of rice cakes, crunched them up in every part of the room and then put every single toy in the room on top of the rice cakes to hide the mess.
So as I tidied up the toys I was met with this crunchy white layer on top of the carpet. Thankfully it seemed that the pilfered rice cakes had no layer of a spreadable product on top. I could not have handled gone-off peanut-butter or cream cheese mashed into the carpets!
There is no vacuum-cleaner in the world that could deal with that!
Note to self: put rice cakes in a higher press! Although, the amount of things I have to put in the higher presses just grows and grows, I may need to just get new high presses!
SATURDAY
Today was tough! I feel like it’s never going to end. Lockdown is officially over but after the puking incident a few weeks ago we’re not keen on bringing the kids in the car anyway!! That and the obvious threat of Covid that is still quite real even though it seems to be fading into people’s memories!
Some days with kids are just relentless – they seem to go on forever, but then when you look back on them you wonder where the time has gone!
Today was relentless. I just felt tired to my innermost core, the kind of fatigue that comes when you feel like you’ve poured every ounce of your being into someone, or 3 someone’s, only to be met with a brick wall of ingratitude! Some days it seems like you give everything of yourself and nobody even sees or cares.
You’re holding out for the moment of it all being worth it, that moment when you get the smile or the look of pure love that reassures you that you are indeed a good mammy and that you are doing a good job! Some days that moment is harder to find.
Some days it doesn’t arrive until bedtime stories and snuggles. But it is always there, some days you are just too worn out to see it! That is parenting, parenting is tough, but it is always worth it!
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