Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom

**Warning** This is a total mommy post.

I did not start out our family life as a SAHM. I actually taught 9th grade Latin and drama until our first born was almost 2. I know what your thinking… WHY?? But that is not the story I’m telling.

When I became “with child” for the second time (sometimes I hate the word “pregnant”), it was apparent that me working was really not practical – financially speaking. And, it wasn’t something I really wanted to do anymore. I enjoyed my job, but leaving Tex for someone else to take care of everyday was a MAJOR bummer. I cried more than he did…

So, when we decided to reduce our two incomes to one, I vowed in my mind that I would ROCK IT.

My house would be like, BAM!

Look at all that white. I mean LOOK at it!!
You know, my dinners would be this:

Look how happy I am chopping tomatoes! And this, ya know, just every night…

And of course there’d be pie!

Then obviously my kids would be all…

And my husband too:

EVERYONE IS HUGGING!!! All the time…

And my friends and I would be:

We’re so trendy! And, look! More white!!

So, my life?

 

And then I actually started doing it. Let’s get real.

My house looks like this:

My dinner table looks like this:

My kids look like this:

More dirt, less hugging… but still cute!

My husband looks like this:

Ok, yes, still lots of hugging going on there. Just not in as trendy a hat.

My friends and I look like this:

But really, my life is still an…

Staying at home does not equal picture perfect life.

Why, you ask? How, you ask? Let me drop a little inspiration on you, fellow momma.

The quality of our lives is not reflected in the amount of laundry put away, dishes done or organic-from-scratch dinners we’ve prepared. THANK GOD.

This is important: It doesn’t ULTIMATELY matter what our kids wear, where they live, or – dare I say it? – what they eat. It matters that they learn how to love God and love people. Everything else is just a bonus to (or a distraction from) the important stuff.

I think we get caught up in the fear of becoming Honey Boo-Boo’s mom and the guilt of making a choice. We have to choose between laundry and one more game of tag in the back yard. We choose laundry and we’re bad moms. We choose playing with the kids and we’re bad moms.  Oh crap, our kid has turned into Honey Boo Boo!

YOU ARE NOT A BAD MOM. DO YOU LOVE YOUR KIDS?? ARE YOU TRYING YOUR BEST??? THEN YOU ARE NOT A BAD MOM.

Sorry I had to yell.

Our lives are awesome because we sacrifice all-the-dadgum-day long. And, by the way, this is true of you working mommies too. We know love because we lay down our lives for our kids, and our husbands and our friends. We get the opportunity to live like Jesus everyday – and, hopefully, it’s making us awesome too. Let go of the expectations put on you by the internet, La Leche League,  your mom, and, most importantly, yourself and focus on loving the heck out of your family and friends.

Yeah. I feel really good now about writing this blog post instead of doing the dishes. Happy.