Friday, August 10, 2007

Super Mommy ... not

I’ve always been an overachiever.

One major wasn’t good enough in college. I did two at the same time – one of them not even in my own language – and still graduated in four years. When I fell in love, it had to be with someone a continent away. When we married and bought our house, I stayed up until 2 a.m. each night painting – and in the case of the family room, repainting four times – despite having to be at work first thing next morning. All of that to say, I have never been one to sit on my butt and settle for the status quo. That is, until now.

My husband and I believe in putting Ladybug first, but in my case, I have a tendency to overdo it. Take yesterday, for example. Ladybug and I were up at 7 a.m., and even though I had only gotten three hours of rest the night before thanks to another sleepless night, we went straight to play. We colored, we watched the Little Einsteins and clapped Rocket to take-off, we tossed her balls around the living room. I even made her crepes for breakfast (though I have to give a shout-out to my husband for making the batter the night before).

Then when she was taking a nap, I went straight to cleaning out closets, making salad for dinner and scrubbing Ladybug’s family-size inflatable pool. When she woke up, we went out and played in the pool together, then came back in for dinner and a bath. Then I stayed up until 2 a.m. with my husband, trying to redeem myself from my unintentional spousal neglect. And today I’m feeling it.

I didn’t hear Ladybug wake up this morning. Didn’t hear my husband get out of bed. Didn’t move from the couch this afternoon as Ladybug pulled every single toy out of her play area and scattered them throughout the living room. Didn’t even make dinner for my husband and me.

And, for the first time, I didn’t feel guilty about it.

As I’m adjusting to my new role as a stay-at-home mom, I’m beginning to accept that there will always be an area of the house in need of cleaning, a load of laundry to be done, a can of ravioli that will suffice for dinner. What’s important now is making sure Ladybug gets my attention and acknowledging that sometimes I can’t do it all – a tough admission for an overachiever.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, bless. Something will always have to be done ... taken care of ... cleaned up ... straightened ... etc. Take one day at a time. Don't kill yourself. Break when you need to. The dishes will get cleaned and the clothes, folded. Eventually.

August 11, 2007 at 9:08 AM  
Blogger Michelle Mahfoufi said...

Yeah, but I'd like to eventually reclaim my dining room table. It has become the dumping ground for clean clothes needing to be folded. If I haven't gotten everything put away by dinner time, we just push the pile to the other end and make do. I guess that's one way to solve the problem ...

August 14, 2007 at 8:30 AM  

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