As a Mom first and a blogger second I’ve learned that computer time can be tricky and non-existent around here at times. I’m doing my best to keep my house in order, my kids fed and in clean clothes, and my blog up to date. Creed {my 19 month old baby}, has decided to climb on my table and shut my computer while I’m working. He has had enough of this! Don’t worry, I don’t usually work when he’s awake anyway. Thank goodness for nap times and bed times!
Almost weekly someone asks me, “How do you do it ALL?” I always respond with the same answer. “I don’t do it all,” and that is the honest truth. Lately my kids have eaten a lot of cold cereal for dinner because I forget to plan it until it is too late. Plus breakfast for dinner is my back up plan. My kids love scrambled eggs and I can’t beat the five minute prep time.
Creed is also in that stage of life that he likes to throw everything on the ground from his high chair. It’s torture I tell ya.
I would show you my laundry pile, but I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be friends after you saw it.
AND, I just showered for the day. Yes, I know it is past 2:00. I envy those that always look put together. I show my emotions on my sleeve, and when I have several projects happening at once {which is 99 % of my life}, I look like an orphan. I even went to HomeGoods last night looking like that. I have no shame.
Rant over, I’ll get off my toosh and get to work cleaning now since it will take several hours to dig myself out of this mess.
P.S. Don’t stop my my house right now because something stinks. I think it’s the fridge.
Here is MY question to YOU…How do you do it all??? Because I just can’t.
I've been planning this dang parade and can't get away from my computer the last three days doing TONS of paperwork and my baby (20 months) is all over my lap, turning on/off the monitor and pulling my arm away from the computer, just wanting me. All I thought was how on earth does Brooke do it?? I'm swamped for two weeks and my kids go crazy, my house is a total disaster, homework hasn't gotten done and I'm embarrassed to send my boy to piano cause I'm pretty sure he hasn't even seen a music note this week. You AMAZE me!! Here's a huge toast to NAPTIME!!!
I don't do it all. Sorry. All of my children are out of the house now and my kitchen floor still needs to be mopped this week/month. You have your priorities right sounds like to me. Keep doing your best.
I just did a similar post on my blog. It's so hard balancing it all, getting things done, feeling like a good mom, and also having me time. Hugs to you ! Keep up your good work!
http://www.kellandchen.blogspot.com
Keep doing what you're doing! It's much more than I can say for myself. I too am trying to find balance, and let me tell you, It. Is. Hard! You're awesome and from one busy woman to another, we do the best we can and that's enough.
No one does it all. I was teaching last year at a school where the kids go two days a week and homeschool the other three. My oldest son also attends there, so I was both classroom teacher and homeschool mom. One of the other moms said, "I don't know how you do it all!" and I replied, "I don't. My house is a wreck, and I don't think I've mopped the floors in six months." I ended up quitting my job because everything really was way out of balance, but even now that I'm a full-time at-home mom, I still can't do it all. 🙂 You are not alone.
Thanks for the post.
I needed to read this post today! Some days I feel like I haven't accomplished much in the terms of working (I do a little graphic design work from home), church calling, cleaning, housework, exercising, laundry, etc. And being a mom/wife on top of that! We just need to do our best and cheer each other on 🙂
I'll tell you how I do it all:
—first of all I have am awesome big house, with a live-in nanny.
—If my baby wakes up during the night, the nanny is the one taking care of that.
—So, I wake up refreshed and have all the time in the world to go work out, take a shower, do my makeup and hair (a lil' TMI here – I am such a sex addict that I have to have me some before my hubs goes to work)
—When I come downstairs, I have a nice clean kitchen
—My daughter is fed and dressed and there is no cereal or any other sticky stuff in her hair. In fact, the nanny made a super cute braid I showed her a picture of on Pinterest
—I take my smiling and happy daughter, we get in our clean SUV and head to play group. My daughter and I look so good and I don't understand why the other moms are wearing sweats. Gosh…can't they just get it together?
—We then go to Target and Homegoods and shop for beautiful home accessories
—My daughter is getting a little fussy, and since I can't have that ruining my day, we go to lunch, maybe Panera Bread, because my husband makes a ton of money, and so does my blog, and I can afford to eat out everyday
— Now it is so time to head home and blog, while my nanny puts my child down for a nap
— I blog about what great finds I scoured at Target and HomeGoods. I feel so cool that I ONLY spend like $50 on lampshades and spray painted some thrift store lamps, and I have a new pair of lamps. Seriously, only $50 on lampshades – what a steal!
— My nanny comes down and she also happens to know html and stuff, so she takes care of all the things I don't like to do about blogging, while I go sit on my porch and admire my beautiful garden with freshly squeezed juice from a chevron etched glass. I do say hi to our new gardner and head back inside to have some awesome organic snack – of course I instagram it.
—Gosh…I am getting tired talking about my perfect life. I do have to go deal with some major first world emergency, such as my iPhone needing a new cute see through case, so I can DIY my own little case by modpodging some chevron scrapbook paper on the case.
————— hope you noticed the sarcasm.
Well, I am usually the one reading/looking at all y'all's blogs with my toddler in my lap, hoping she doesn't spill cold cereal on the computer, and wondering how you do it all… On a very logical level my brain tells me that you can't possibly, but I still fall for the illusion that everyone else is doing it all but me… thanks for clearing it up.
http://confessions-of-a-project-aholic.blogspot.com/
Hah! Glad to know I'm not the only one. Recently I've forced myself to FINISH several small projects that had been sitting around for months, de-clutter, be better at cleaning the house daily, etc. My blogging has fallen by the wayside as a result, but surprisingly, it hasn't bothered me. Now I feel more freedom to start on new, bigger projects.
I had been locked in a vicious cycle of messes and stress, too. It is really hard for me to manage my time. I can't imagine trying to do all you do with four kids! I promise that we all understand that you have a life beyond blogging and we don't expect you to post new projects every single day. You're still awesome!!
I just want to tell you how thankful I am for this post. I was having a rough day feeling completely inadequate at being a mom/wife. I'm am a new blogger and sometimes when you compare your totally flawed self to a fantastic blogger mother such as you, your flaws seemed to get maximized. I'm happy to see a successful blogger that isn't afraid to say what is real, to show it's not all peaches and roses all the time. So thank you, thank you so much. You were my blessing today.
I'm pretty sure no one ACTUALLY does it all. We're all just really busy in different ways. Luckily on our blogs we can choose what we show off. Right now I have a full time job as an electrical engineer, teach 4 contract fitness classes a week (add prep time to that), am on the board of directors for my province's cheerleading association, have a sad neglected blog at the moment, have a sad somewhat less neglected boyfriend :p and then life likes to throw you some curve balls-my dad died about 10 months ago and I have been dealing with his estate which was left as quite the mess. We all have our own 'stuff' to deal with, I feel lucky that right now I don't have children otherwise showering might not be part of what gets done in my life right now either! Lol some how we manage!
OMG @ liliana, I'm totally blonde and need people to hold up sarcasm signs for me! For the first few lines of your comment I thought you were serious! LOL!
Just like all the other mommy's, I don't do it all.
My house needs to be cleaned twice as much as it I actually do it.
I drink waay to much caffine, and get too little sleep.
My legs and feet hurt at the end of every day, because once I get home, the only time I sit is during supper or rocking the baby to sleep.
But I do have to give credit to my boyfriend, who has been out of work for the past three months (going back on Monday YAY!), and makes sure to get laundry and some cleaning done during the day. What would I do without him?
Oh how I totally relate, haha. My 22 month old thinks it's fun to stand on laptops, especially Daddy's new $800 mega-machine. Have to make sure to never leave it out around her.
The food throwing stage is rough too. I noticed my daughter would normally do it when she was full or had too much food so I would give her small amounts at a time.
It can be rough but their cute little faces make up for it. 🙂
Natalya, Ruff House Art
Great post, I think we ALL struggle with this! I have so many ideas of projects I would like to do, but reality strikes and I can hardly do the bare minimum around the house. Yes, the kids/hubby are fed, clothes are (mostly) laundered/folded, and diapers are changed, but some days that is it!! I have a blog but I haven't even looked at it in days, let alone updated it in a month.
But, blogs/dishes/projects will keep; babies grow up so fast and soon will be grown. I want to enjoy this time with the little kids because soon I will look back and probably miss these very days!
(My 2 year old turns off the computer too. It drives my husband crazy!)
Thanks again!
We're in the same boat. Pajamas are now sometimes my outdoor clothes, too! Who knew that being self employed was so hard?!? My laundry pile may make yours blush. I am considering bagging it up, throwing it all in the truck, and taking it to the laundromat cause seriously I may be at it for the next month. I'm happy to hear that I'm not alone. I often feel ashamed that I can't do it all. It's impossible for me to attend to two children, a dog, a husband, run a business, garden, clean, and have a roaring social life. Let's also add showering and dressing to my difficulties. Thanks for keeping it real!!
Hey Brooke –
I honestly don't know how you bloggers out there do it all with small children! My kids are grown and out of the house and I still struggle! I rarely get more than one post a week done. Of course I'm in the middle of a major renovation that just has to be finished and it's really not "postable" I love seeing all the beautiful pictures and houses but I also really enjoy when the honesty comes through because quite frankly it depresses me to think I can't have MY house looking that beautiful!
@luliana thank you for the laugh!! I loved your comment! Still giggling!
I have a 16 month old and a one month old at home now, and I am taking three undergraduate classes online and one on campus. I also try to do some editing work!! I do NOT do it all. Sometimes the house is more or less clean- that is, the dishes are done- but I only get to sweep/vacuum/clean toilets about once a week- sometimes I sweep but don't get to do the other stuff until about two weeks. There is usually laundry in various stages of being done- in washer, hanging around the house, folded in the room it was hung, brought to bedroom, eventually gets put away- and sometimes the dishes pile up in the sink for days. And food? Thank God for Morning Star and bread, let me tell you. Some nights we just don't really eat. 🙁 I decided that won't do and am putting more effort to getting food taken care of. I also decided to put my 16 month old back into babysitting because I can't do any work with both of them and I earn more money editing than her babysitting costs. (plus she likes daycare AND I need some time to myself) Speaking of which, your blog is one of my MAJOR pick me uppers at the end of the day. I love it! It puts me in such a good frame of mind. I need my fixer-upper and you are one of them! Thank you. I LOVE your stuff.
Hi Lauren!
First, thank you for for becoming a follower of my blog, housebyhoff.blogspot.com. Your support is appreciated. Second, as I am writing this I'm making silly faces at my daughter and making her laugh so that she'll let me type. I TOTALLY GET IT! You're not alone. Do the best you can every day! That's all you can do. None of us can do it all! 🙂
As a mom (I'm a proud one of two 2 year old twins) I think the most important task we can accomplish during the day is to help our kids know that they are sincerely loved by their mama. If at the end of the day, you can honestly look back at what you've done and that one "little" task has been accomplished, well then you have accomplished the most important part of your job and you've "done it all" (aaaahhhh! A tear is shed. Seriously though….)
I learned this little gem of trick in a stress management class I took in college and by golly it works: Make a list of what needs to be done that day, listing them from most important task to least important task. As you accomplish each task, check it off and work your way down the list. Even if you don't get the entire list done, knowing that you've done the most important tasks that day will make you feel super. And while I sometimes just make a mental list, making an actual physical list is much more rewarding because you can actually see what needs to be done and actually see what you've accomplished.
I used to have a problem with making our bed every morning. I put that task on the top of my list and now I take the 2 seconds to make my bed every morning and I cross it off my list. It's amazing how much I feel like I've accomplished because of that simple, yet important(to me, at least), task. If I don't get anything else done that day, I can at least tell myself "hey, your made your bed today. Way to go for getting that done" 🙂
WHO is "All?" …. from Mother of Four (29, 28, 21, 19)
Now Back to your Regular Programming.
and feel free to use my answer the next time you're asked … "Who is All?"
Thank you for being real – we can't do it all and it is great to hear from other moms/bloggers/wives/continue list all the hats we wear that we struggle. It's important to figure out what needs to be done and what our priorities are. And what I consider important doesn't top my husband's list and vice versa! Oh, to find that balance! Keep up the good work and cheerios stop crunching after a few days 😉
farmfreshstyle.blogspot.com
Doing it all is a MYTH! I stopped looking for that a long time ago. Instead I have embraced the chaos that comes with being a multi tasker. Accept it , embrace it and love it. I have accepted that I cannot blog every week / month, accepted that I will have laundry piled up, cannot vacuum everyday, cannot volunteer at my kids' school on a regular basis, won't have home cooked meals everyday, will yell sometimes… U get the point. Peaceful and happier
Admitting that you cant do it all is the first step!! 😛 just kidding!!! I USED to do it all. Until i realized I didnt have to. The things that i thought NEEDED to be done RIGHT then didnt really need to be done at all!! Realizing that life is not a picture in a magazine and a lived in house is better then an empty spotless house anyday!! The laundry will be there when you get to it. the floors will still be dirty when you finally have time to wash them. But those beautiful baby eyes will soon be 8 year old eyes rolling at you because your SO embarrasing!!!! So keep doing what your doing and those baby eyes will always love you because you showed him what was truly important. 🙂
Can I just say I found peace in this post? I have a 6 week old baby girl who you know gets all of my attention. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being a new mommy, but I was just thinking today, "How do all of these other blogging mommies do it all?!"
It's good to know that they don't, because it seems as though I can't either. 🙂
There is NO such thing as "doing it all"! I've been married 25 years, raised several kids, homeschooled, worked a business, did projects, volunteering, etc, etc! I found that prioritizing my life got easier when I asked "will this matter in 5, 10, 20 years to me?" If the answer is 'nope' then I moved it down the priority list and got to it when I could. Oh…and discovering "www.Flylady.net" was a God send too! Her help and advice on organizing chaos was a BIG help in me not loosing my mind. LOL
I needed this post. A real life post. I think others do it all, but probably not. I often beat myself up for not being the perfect mom, wife and teacher. I can't do it all!
As I read some of the comments I can really relate to those parents with kids. I'm happily married and have one baby boy and as we all know baby's are really naughty and always spreading their toys anywhere that's why I'm always reminding my wife to organize all the things in our house especially the toys of our baby.