Bad Mommy!

I know it's very late. Well, late for a Friday post, that is. I had a great post for today, a roll-on-the-floor-laugh-out-loud kind of post. About why males never outgrow the need to figuratively pull a girl's pigtails. Even when that girl is his wife. Even when that girl doesn't wear pigtails.

But I didn't post it.

Sorry.

Maybe next week.

I didn't get much sleep last night, and I woke up just in time to get ready and rush off to work with no time to spend in the glories of blogland. When that happens, I usually just skip the day and start off fresh on Monday. But Monday is about memories, and I'm in the middle of the story of my quest for a doctor when we lived in Uganda.

So instead I thought I would blog about Motherhood.

Why is it that all my best efforts at being the world's best mommy backfire? I know I'm not perfect, but those times when I really try to reach new heights, why does everything turn worse than it ever was before?

Case in point:  one time I wanted to take all the kids to the park, something we hadn't done in a while. Joel didn't want to go, but I made him. He ended up falling out of a swing and breaking both his wrists. (Hint:  this link is to the beginning of a continuing post. Keep clicking on the new post link at the bottom of the post to read the whole story.) He spent Thanksgiving Day in a couple of casts because I wanted to be a good mommy.

You'd think something like that would discourage me, but I never learn. Today I decided to go on another bike ride. I took up riding because they have some great trails here in Florida, and I thought it would be a good way to get some exercise and spend time with my boys. Nicky didn't want to go, but I insisted. We're going to have quality time together, or die trying!

Nicky is the only boy who doesn't have a geared bike. So he has to pedal twice as much and twice as hard as the rest of us. We each took a turn riding back with him, but he really lagged behind. He wanted to stop and rest. He complained of a headache. (Nicky's been whining most of the week because of his sunburn, so I didn't take him too seriously.)

At least, I didn't take him too seriously until he skipped supper. Then he started throwing up. Then he started running a raging high fever.

I made my poor, sick baby go on a 10 mile bike ride.

Bad mommy!

I'm spending this weekend taking care of him and doing penance. I'll be back on Monday.

Have a good weekend!

Getting It Right

I have heard very few people brag about being a good mother. In fact, most of the time it seems that we women spend our time mourning about our failures as a mother.

I hate to break it to you, but there is no such thing as a perfect mother. Never has been and never will be. One of the things that encourages me is the thought that God gave my children to me. So I'm the best mother for them. I think sometimes Satan wants to defeat us so he sits on our shoulders and tells us how lousy we are. He points out how much we fail.

SO DON'T LISTEN!!! Sometimes you need to just stop and focus on something you're doing right. Remind yourself that you're not so bad after all. Sometimes you can even turn a failure into the opportunity to be Mother of the Year! For instance--once when my kids were little, I didn't have any milk to put on their cereal at breakfast. I felt horrible. I hadn't had time to go grocery shopping. But when you have a bunch of little kids, who runs out of milk? That's the one thing you should always have. I scrounged around for something remotely healthy to give them, but there were no options. So instead of berating myself on what a loser I was, I decided to do something different instead.

I gave my kids ice cream for breakfast.

They were thrilled. I turned a dismal situation into a party. For years they reminded each other of the time they had ice cream for breakfast. For one morning, I was the coolest mother on earth.

A word of warning: ice cream for breakfast once--cool mother. Doing it on a regular basis--you may qualify to run for worst mother of the year. it's amazing how thin a line there is between being really creative and just plain bad. : )

So how about you? Leave a comment and brag about something you do with your kids that makes you a great mother. Feel free to leave comments about how your kids' friends always beg to come to your house because you do such cool things. List the wonderfully involved crafts you design and execute yourself for your children's entertainment. If you are a great mother, my hat's off to you! Brag about it here!

if you're more like me and creativity runs toward deciding how best to kill off characters in your book, well--dish up some ice cream tomorrow morning. In a pinch, cookies or chocolate work just as well. And then tell us all about it.