Surviving Motherhood

Yesterday afternoon ended up going my way for a change. The boys were game for a run after naptime so we hit the road with the jogging stroller and logged 5 hot, sweaty miles.  They talked me into taking them over "the bridge"--their favorite place to go in the stroller...silly boys!

They look about as tired as I felt out there yesterday.  I'm glad they didn't want to do the bridges out to the beach.  I wasn't up for that yesterday.  Between the lower body work I've been doing in the weight room and the heat, my legs were feeling pretty heavy.  We got it done though.

Our little dinner "party" went off without a hitch and the lasagna was a hit.  Phew!  The boys had such a good time playing with Tom and Sheryl.  They were so fired up from their fun night that they didn't go to bed til almost 10.  Usually that means they'll sleep in but that wasn't the case this morning.  Good thing I had this yummy coffee to help me tackle the morning...

And good thing there's another bag where that came from since I finished off this bag this morning.  Support our troops and get your own bag here.  It's good stuff.

Despite our early morning and plenty of time to get ready this morning, we were still late to MOPS this morning.  How does that happen??  I really need to work on that area of my life.  Today's meeting was fantastic as we had a therapist speak about Surviving Motherhood.  Her information was so relevant and real.  

She encouraged us all to have a mission statement and vision for ourselves as mothers, and then to make sure the things we are doing align with that mission.  This includes only agreeing to do things that fit within your boundaries.  I really want to do that for myself.  If it works for businesses, surely it can work for us moms.  This blog has some great tips on writing your own mission statement if you want to get started.  He says to get started like this...

Writing a Personal Mission Statement

If you want to begin writing a mission statement, I suggest opening up a new Word document or taking a blank sheet of paper and answering the three following questions:

• Who do I want to be?

• What do I want to do?

• What do I value?

Just write what immediately comes to mind. As mentioned earlier, your statement may take some time and a few rewrites before you are comfortable with it.

She also talked about how our thoughts create who we are.  If we think we're a mess, we'll be a mess.  If we think we're a failure, we'll be a failure.  What if we tell ourselves we're strong, confident, and capable? I've never been very good at positive self-talk but I'm going to work on that area of my life.  

She also pointed out that our thoughts about our children can influence who they think they are.  If I tell my kids that they're smart, they'll believe that but if I tell them the opposite, they'll have that opinion of themselves as well.  Our words are very powerful.  I call my boys silly all the time--guess I'm encouraging that personality trait and I wouldn't have it any other way.  We all need more silliness in our lives.

She reminded us all that God gave us the job he designed for us to do.  Our kids are the perfect kids for us and we are the perfect moms for them.  This was right in line with what Gordon preached about in church on Sunday.  I love it when the pastor's message ends up being reinforced with an experience later on in the week.  It's a God thing and it's extremely cool.

For me, one of the keys to surviving motherhood is making sure I get to the gym on a regular basis.  I had high hopes of hitting up the gym on the way home from MOPS but both the boys passed out in the back seat on the way home so we ended up at home instead.

I have no skill in the "move the kids from the car seat to the bed without waking them" department and the boys woke up as soon as we got in the house so we decided to just have lunch instead.  Mason had different plans for his lunch than I did...

The picture doesn't even begin to do it justice.  All I heard from the bathroom while this was taking place was "oh no." Yes, Mason, flinging your yogurt all over the place is definitely an "oh no!"  Bet you can guess what I spent nap time doing...steam cleaning the floors and washing the walls.  It needed to be done sooner or later...good thing I had spent my morning being encouraged in my role as a mother.  

Here's to hoping we can squeeze in a trip to the gym this afternoon.  I might save my legs workout for tomorrow and just park myself on the elliptical for some intervals while I read...we'll see how I'm doing in the motivation department when I get there.  Somethings better than nothing, right??