The Mama Role

So my goal for the summer is to wake up and be dressed before the kids get up so that we can go ahead and start our day and not be waiting around eating fruit snacks while I put on my makeup.

(Not that that's ever happened before of course.)

Well, last night Caroline was up twice to nurse - again - and then she was up at 6:55 for the day, all smiles and ba-ba-ba's. And I had certainly not gotten up and dressed before 6:55.

I'd really just like to be ready by 7:30 or 8:00, but an early rising baby throws my whole plan out of whack. And maybe if I went to bed earlier I could get up and be dressed by 6:55.

But Andrew doesn't go to bed until 8:30 or 9:00 - why, oh why does he not need to sleep?? - which really leaves me with so little down time. I still have to clean the kitchen and switch out laundry and meal plan and pick up around the house and write blog posts and edit photos....and you get the idea.

So I really struggle with getting to bed early.

Then I'm on this endless loop of playing catch-up.

And I feel like I'm running, running, running all day.

Mostly I'm feeding people. Or cleaning up from feeding people. Or deciding what I'm going to feed people. Or bathing the people after I've fed them a delicious well-planned(ha!) dinner. So much of my mom role revolves around food.

And I really worry that I'm not engaging Andrew enough. Most of his play right now is imaginative. He has tons of hats and vests and props in his adventure chest and all day he's either a fireman or a jungle explorer or a tennis-playing superhero or a chef. But he really doesn't want to sit down and read books much anymore. :( He will, but not for long.

We talk about letters and their sounds all the time. "A for Andrew!" He gets so excited about that one. But he'll trace letters in his little workbook for about 3.2 seconds before he's off on another adventure.

And he watches more TV than I'd like. Umizoomi and Mickey Mouse on and off during the day. I keep thinking I should set strict limits, but he doesn't nap so the days that we're home I really need for him to sit and be quiet for a while so I can do stuff or put the baby down for a nap.

All this to say, I really don't have this mom thing figured out. I just really love my kids, and I really love hanging out with them. I just want to give them my very best, and I hope I'm doing that.