Top 10 Ways to Make a Bad Day Better 

This was kind of what I felt like doing at parts of the day today,
but it would not have been as helpful as anything on this list.
(This is not to say that I do not do this on the particularly difficult days.)

You’re having a terrible day.
Maybe you woke up in a bad mood.
Maybe no one wanted to get out of bed and you had to try to dress them while they kicked, and repeat yourself 30 times just to get them into the car.
Then out of the car.
Maybe you are just fried from an already-long week.
Whatever it is: it’s hard! Cazy hard! Parenthood, parenting toddlers, parenting kids who don’t feel like doing homework at the moment, cooking healthy meals, cleaning your house, working for heaven’s sake, PARENTING the way you’re supposed to, meaning following through with rules and punishments, and sticking to schedules and making sure you raise GOOD kids. It’s Friggin hard, and exhausting. Not always, but today, it really was. Today was the type of day when carrying 2 toddlers (one upside down) through the parking lot, TO and FROM the classroom, just to pick up my older 2 was just about the EASIEST thing I did all day.

 So since it’s been a bad day...a long, long, exhaustingly bad day...this will be short and sweet.
I used up 4 of these suggestions today, am currently on the 5th, and it has made this day less painful than it would have been otherwise.
So, read on, pick your poison, and use one, or a few, on your bad day. I hope it helps.

10. Call a good friend and/or one of your sisters.
Complain, vent, curse, let it all out, until you hear enough consoling on the other side to make you feel like you’ve gotten a hug through the phone. Just talking about the crap that is happening to you and having someone understand and empathize is a great way to get the bad stuff out of you, and to hear a potential silver lining/similar sob story so you can laugh and feel better.

9. Vacuum.
The entire house. And the hallways. And then take the stick thing and vacuum any cobwebs in the rooms or under the beds. Carry the baby on your hip if you have to to get through this- she/he will be happy to be carried, and you’ll get it done. Afterwards, your floors will all be clean, and for some reason, the sound of the vacuum and the feeling of getting every room at least semi-cleaner always makes me feel better.
 (I did this one today)

8. Clean out your refrigerator.
 (I am by no means a neat freak...but cleaning when I’m upset/mad/having a bad day has always made me feel better for some reason, seeing the end result is nothing but uplifting!) You’ve been meaning to get to it anyhow, so throw out any old, expired bottle and take every dang shelf out and wash it in the sink, clean out the veggie drawers till they are shiny. Wa-la, clean fridge, better outlook on life.
 (I did this one today too)

 7. Snuggle with your baby and/or kids.
 The very same kids that can drive you nuts are also the ones you love more than life itself. Nothing like the smell of my baby’s head/neck, nuzzling her belly with my nose to make her laugh and make me forget why I was frustrated.
 (Of course I did this today, it is my favorite thing in the world)

 6. Download a book/Go buy a good book. Read it. 
This doesn’t always work, because...uh....you’re a parent, and you have 6 billion things to do, and even if you had an extra minute to read, you might feel so guilty you could barely concentrate. BUT...if you’re having a particularly bad day, and you happen to have no kids around for a little while, immerse yourself in the story of someone else’s life to forget about whatever is annoying you at the moment. Works for me, every time.

5. Go for a run.
 Do some sprints, go as far as you can until you feel like you’re going to collapse. Strap your baby/child into the jog stroller, snack 'em up, and get to it. I’ve had my best runs when I’ve had my worst days.

4. Take a nap.
THIS, like reading a book, is nearly impossible if you have kids/job/house/responsibilities of any sort. That said, your day is crummy enough, and your kids are napping too, pick up your lavender eye pillow (which is a must for any bad day- see Whole Foods), put it on, and replace your thoughts with clouds so your subconscious can work out whatever is buggin you.

3. Pray. Or go to church if there is a mass at a time you can attend.
This obviously only works if you are holy, but even if you are a teensy bit holy, I have found that the act of stopping and praying, and most definitely attending church puts things into perspective and drains me of my woe-is-me-ness.

2. CrossFit.
 If you don’t belong to one, and you have a lot of bad days, then you should consider joining one. The incredibly challenging workouts, combined with the super supportive environment, followed by lying on the ground thanking GOD that you managed to get through that, and the euphoria of being so happy to complete it is just incomparable to much else.
 (This was the one thing that turned by day around almost completely until....the rest of the day was even nuttier!!)

1. WINE. or BEER.
I am drinking a beer right now and am thankful for it. I would recommend waiting until all the kids are asleep so you can enjoy it and listen to your quiet house. Warning: A 12-pack may make your day wayyy worse, so stick to just 1-3 glasses/beers.

That’s it! Here's to a GREAT day for all of us tomorrow, because a crummy day has to be followed by a wonderful  amazing few....
~Marisa

Why Crossfit Makes Me a Better Mom

So, in honor of the latest workout posted by my “gym” (I hate to call it a gym because it’s not really a gym, it’s like a...oh, I don’t know, life-enhancing center), I’m going to write to you about how incredible of a place this is, and why, if you are a parent, or soon-to-be-one, this could be the BEST thing you ever do to keep up with your children/lifestyle of being a parent.

So, Diablo Crossfit. The idea behind Crossfit is that it is a strength and conditioning program designed to get you to be able to do ANYTHING, PHYSICAL, BETTER.
Pushups. Burpees. Handstands. Walking on your hands. Carrying heavy weights long distances. Sprinting. Pulling yourself up a rope from the ground to the roof. Double-unders. Jumping onto a 24 inch box: over. and over. and over. Carrying a 65 lb sandbag on your shoulder and going for a long walk. How about a short run? Wall balls: squatting with a (10/14/20 lb) medicine ball and then standing up with it, simultaneously throwing the ball up as high in the air as you can conceive. Picking up a 65 lb/95 lb/115 lb. barbell, thrusting it over your head, then squatting with it, then thrusting it over your head, then squatting. Again. Again. Again. Again. Ouch, huh? Boy is it hard in the moment, but after you are through with a workout, you feel like you could conquer the world, clean your whole your house, or at the very least, do bedtime without throwing a tantrum yourself.

The working out is only half the equation at Crossfit. Nearly all of it’s members follow the Paleo eating plan, at least to some degree, and many live and die by it. It involves eating as the cavemen did: meat, veggies, nuts, some fruit, and water.
My husband and I just joined Diablo Crossfit a year and a half ago. Prior to that, we were runners, we worked out at the nicest gym around. We had both run marathons, Ed played college football. We liked to work out, and were active with our kids. At the time that we joined Crossfit, we had 3 kids. I joined to lose the rest of baby #3’s weight, and I ended up losing it in 2 months, getting ridiculously healthy, and then... got pregnant with baby #4.

Having experienced both high school and college (Ed) sports, running, weights, workout classes, we had quite a bit of experience when it came to being physical, and staying in “shape”.
So.....when my sister, and her boyfriend (a Crossfit legend) insisted we try it out, we were a little skeptical. OK, REALLY skeptical. “Oh, sure, we'll totally go to your gym so that we can start wearing the 5 toe shoes with you too??”
“Um, we’re good, we like running, weights, we don’t have time for classes with 3 kids guys!”
......fast forward to them practically stealing our children for an hour, and shoving us into a class.
After 1 intro, I was sold, and a month later, Ed was too.

The workouts vary EVERY single day. COMPLETELY.

One day you could have a:
6 toes to bar (hang from a bar, pull your toes to touch that bar. yes, ouch. 6x)
8 push-ups
12 air squats
multiply this by 3
then sprint 400 meters.
Then do this whole thing, as many times as you can, in 15 minutes.

15 minutes! That doesn’t sound that long, does it?? Usually, if you have done it correctly, after 15 minutes, you think you might die! At least fall on the ground. Or, at the very minimum, swig water and thank your lucky stars that you lived through it.
After a year and a half, there are many things that I still can’t do (real push-ups, for example, 1 whole pull-up without a band) but then again, I did go through pregnancy and have a baby and haven’t been as much as I wish I could just yet.... the great thing about it though is---if you keep going, you see the progress, you track it online on an online whiteboard, and you see yourself getting better all the time! And my word, after a good, solid 15 minute class like this, you are sore in the BEST way for days, and see a difference in your body, both how you look, and feel, quicker than anything else I have ever undertaken.

...So here is what I noticed that I loved so much, as a Mom, and what I noticed happen to Ed too.

EVERYTHING...that I did in that gym, made it easier to be a Mom, in EVERY way. Let’s take the workout that they just put out for the Crossfit Games Competition that is going on right now. Every few days, Crossfit gyms all over the world are doing the same exact workout, recording their members' results, and eeking closer to sending their best and strongest to the CROSSFIT GAMES!! (Serious Big Deal!!) This evening, this workout was posted...
.
In 18 minutes, do as many rounds of this as possible.
Jumping onto a 24 inch box 15 times.
12 Push Presses with a barbell weighing 115 lbs. (pushing the barbell over your head)
and 9 Toes-to-Bars. (again, hang from bar, bring your toes to touch said bar you’re hanging from)
Repeat.
As many times as you can. In 18 minutes.

If you think this is easy, try doing just one round of this, and then you will see why doing it over and over, for 18 minutes is SO HARD!!! Hard, but fun, and every class is FUN, every instructor is GREAT, most are funny, they are never, EVER boring.

But back to it. Why. Is this so awesome for parents. As a Mother (and speaking for Ed, Father) to four children, ages 6, 4, 2 and 8 months, who are constantly moving, WE need to be constantly moving. Say we’re in the kitchen....and we hear a "HELP!" in the form of the ear-piercing scream variety from the backyard, one occasionally must LEAP... over the baby exersaucer right in the middle of the kitchen, containing the baby in it, in order to GET TO THE ear-piercing scream immediately. This is where those 24’ BOX JUMPS, done over and over again, come in VERY HANDY.

Let’s say your kids are scared of wolves and foxes. Which they are. So they like to sleep in your bed, because of course, you will protect them from wolves and foxes. Because everyone knows that wolves and foxes like to mostly sneak into kids’ bedrooms, not parent bedrooms. So, the kids, all 3 of them, fall asleep in the parental bed every night (baby in co-sleeper, doesn’t count here). When it’s time to move these kids into their own beds, which we occasionally do, lifting a 35, 45, 55 lb. weight from your chest to above your head (Samantha, into her top bunk) would be a struggle were it not for an exercise like PUSH PRESSES which we constantly do. We almost look at moving the kids as fun, as a workout. OK, almost!

And lastly, with kids as small as ours, they love to play physically with us. They love for us to lay on the ground with them, and wrestle, and throw them up in the air, and play SUPERMAN!!!! with them on our feet, while we lay on the ground. So...while you’re playing SUPERMAN!!! with, say, a 2 year old, full of vim and vigor, who is really acting like Superman, and screaming “Superman!!!” but also wiggling and squirming like 2 year olds do....it is quite possible that that 2 year old could come tumbling down, in an awkward direction that you did not anticipate, and land directly onto the head of a crawling, active 8 month old baby sister, if you don’t watch it. BUT......if YOU DO CROSSFIT!!! and YOU DO TOES-TO-BAR relatively often...SUPERMAN!!!! with a squirmy 2 year old is a piece of cake!!! And you can nimbly throw that 2 year old right into the proper position on the top of your feet, and make sure that precious little 8 month old treasure is safe and sound, crawling around where she belongs.

And if THAT does not give you a thorough idea for why PHYSICALLY speaking, Crossfit is the best thing around for parents that want to keep up with their kids, without thinking twice about it....then I will add 1, no 2 more things.

1. The Paleo Diet- though I am not on it now (I haven’t found a way to breastfeed, keep up milk while on it)- when I was on it, I had more energy than I had ever had in my entire life. I woke up bounding out of bed, had no issue getting up for a 6am class, was up with the baby at night, and still...did not need COFFEE in the morning even to get me up! My body felt clean, healthy, my mind clear, I felt like a well-run machine. I look forward to the day that I can go back on it.

2.LASTLY....Diablo Crossfit has the best community every. In general, but especially for Mamas of kids, and Mamas of small babies. I often strap my baby into her stroller, do the workout in the gym with her watching me, take breaks to push her, nurse her, and have other friends/members/instructors take the time to make faces, play with, hold my baby so that I can get my workout in. TALK ABOUT THE BEST VILLAGE EVER. And I am talking about FUN people. Who aren't just fun, hang out with you at the gym for an hour fun, they are hit-up-Round-up for someone's birthday party-fun, but also throw a random 80's ski theme party fun, go to the ice cream place for someone's birthday party fun, talk a walk with all of your kids because you can't make it to the gym fun. The sense of community, the sense of constant encouragement, REAL people, laughs, confidence in that place sends you back out the door and into the world with the feeling that you are SO happy to have some place like this to come into any time you feel like. :)


See, even babies LOVE CROSSFIT!!

Check it out if you’d like, I can’t imagine anyone not loving it: www.diablocrossfit.com

Perspective

So, I’ve realized that keeping up a blog, kids, house and working is close to impossible. Much as I love to write, sleeping and eating take up what is left of my free time these days. Which is why I’ve only written 1 post in the past 12 months!
At any rate- the past year has been busy, hectic and amazing. (yes, of course life can be all three of those) The most notable happening of the past year was the birth of Cecilia Mariposa Cox, our beautiful baby girl, born in July. She has completed our family, and has made me the happiest I’ve ever felt- I knew before she was conceived that there was still one more that needed to be added to our brood, and she was it. The puzzle now truly feels complete.

That said, as happy as she has made me, and as much fun as it is to have four energetic children...it is also quite tiring. As I mentioned in my post last week- a typical day starts at 6:30am, and goes to 10:30pm with dressing, feeding, drop-offs, cleaning, working, feeding, pick-up (school), preparing dinner, cleaning, feeding, working, another pick-up, errands, cleaning, feeding, feeding, homework, sports, feeding, bathing, reading, feeding...and then finally...SLEEP----in between the night-time feedings, of course.
It feels a bit like a merry-go-round, each day passes so quickly, the highs, the lows, the tantrums, the amazing pictures drawn of our family by our kids, the songs they sing, the screams they scream, the hugs they give, and the fights we break up...it is TRULY non-stop, and even with help (we have a wonderful Au Pair), a couple of rough days can make you want to lay on the couch and take a week-long nap.

All older parents constantly cajole “Enjoy it while they are little, they are big before you know it!”...and of course, I try to savor as much as I can, but it is tough when you’ve dealt with 4 tantrums in a row, and have a baby who hates being in the car for any longer than 5 minutes. There are definitely times that leave me wondering how I am going to get through this day, much less get through the next, and the one after that, and the week after that, and so on.

In October, something happened that put the daily routine/craziness all in perspective for me. It is something that I have reflected on every time I feel overwhelmed or tired or just plain cranky that makes me less stressed/annoyed and gives me more patience instantly...

We were at Squaw Valley in Tahoe...Ed was participating in a crazy 13 mile race called the Tough Mudder, and I had driven up with the kids, my sister, Christy, and Ana, our Au Pair, to go and cheer him on and spend the weekend in Tahoe. We got to the race on Saturday morning, and it was pure MAYHEM. They anticipated 16,000 people participating in the event over the course of the weekend, and this is not including the thousands of spectators, family, booths, vendors, etc etc etc. People were dressed in crazy costumes, there were bands playing, it was all held on the mountain, where people usually ski- it was all dirt/rocks, rough.

As soon as we got there (Ed was running the race already, we came in hopes to catch him near the end/watch the end/cheer him through the finish line) we realized that even with 3 adults, 4 children would be tricky to keep in check. Christy, Ana and I each took 1 of the big kids, and I strapped Cecilia (the baby) to my chest. We managed to arrive 10 minutes before Ed was passing by where we stood, so the kids were super excited to cheer for him, see him, give him kisses as he passed us by on his way to the finish. He finished quickly, came over to us, and we hung out at the DCF (Diablo Cross Fit- our gym) tent while Ed unwound and got some food. We spent the next 2 hours getting lunch, visiting the booths, and people-watching (the outfits people had were insane!!).




(Yes, they were doing the race too. Where do people come up with these ideas???!)

The kids were mesmerized by the craziness, and thoroughly enjoyed watching the people racing, trying out booths (like the Marines’ pull-up competition booth) and eating goodies like ice cream dipped in chocolate. (YUM) After a couple of hours, we saw the owner of our gym, and his wife finishing up their race...we went near the last obstacle (the race is 13 miles of running through hills, with 23 obstacles, crazy, crazy- to get through) to cheer them on and to see them finish. The obstacle was one where people have to balance on a wooden 2x4 on its’ side, across a probably 30-40 foot “lake” of cold water. The husband sailed across, made it without falling in, the wife fell in, but promptly got out, and both made it across the finish. We cheered, took pictures, and then looked at each other and said- “OK, time to get going”. During that time, Samantha and Sacha had been sitting right in front of us at the obstacle, watching and cheering as well. I was still holding Cecilia in the front pack on my body, and Ed, Ana and Christy had been standing in front of the obstacle cheering as well.

When we went to go grab all the kids to hold our hands to walk back through the crowds though...Adam (our 2 year old) was nowhere to be seen.

You know when you get that immediate baseball in your throat? Yup.

Without panicking, I said to Ed, Christy, Ana: “Adam! Where is Adam??” We all immediately grabbed Sacha and Samantha and split up in different directions looking for him. At first, I looked silently, holding Samantha’s hand tightly, and holding Cecilia’s head to me with my other hand. The crowd looked dizzying to me, it looked like people were swirling around me, and no little kids seemed to be anywhere around, no one small like Adam anyhow, at that moment. I stayed calm at first, and then seeing the hundreds of people around us, within probably a minute of scouring our immediate area, I started yelling. “ADAM!!!!!!!! ADAM!!!!!!!” By the 2nd Adam my voice cracked and I was crying and screaming. I yelled to Ed to get ahold of a cop to report something over the loudspeaker (consider what was going through my mind: HUGE location, many water obstacles everywhere, tons of random people, roads to the street....oh my God. Add to the fact that my own brother was kidnapped when he was EXACTLY Adam’s age, and you can see my mind exploding at that very second---more on that story some other time, my brother is fine now, fyi).

I ran to the DCF tent and told everyone that was sitting, recovering, there- “MY TWO YEAR OLD!!! HE IS MISSING!! HELP US LOOK FOR HIM!!!” Everyone jumped up immediately and started looking around, seeing what they could do.

At that very moment, Ana came over with Adam in her arms...she had started running in the opposite direction that I had...and she found him, probably 200 feet away, kneeling down checking out some sticks and leaves under a tree. He had been heading in the direction of the start of the whole race- God only knows how far he could have gone/where he would have gone, where we would have found him if we waited more than another minute.

I have never been so grateful to anyone in my life, as I was at that moment to Ana. I grabbed him from her, and sobbing, hugged and kissed his innocent blond head. He had no idea he had even been lost, had no idea why I was crying. My heart was in my throat for at least an hour after that, and I felt like crying most of that day. At the moment when I did not find him instantly (after a minute of looking, when you assume you’ll find him a few feet away) I started praying to God in my head (or maybe out loud, I don’t remember) and making deals with him (please, please, please, I will never complain about anything ever again. I will go to church every sunday. I will do ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!) and I don’t remember ever feeling such an insane primal feeling of despair and FEAR. I don’t know if he was gone for 3 minutes, or 10 minutes, time froze right there, and every second that I could not find him felt like a year. The concept of losing my baby and not knowing where he could be was the scariest thing that I have ever experienced.

Why am I sharing this? For me...that experience alone has made the everyday, the craziness, the screaming, the tantrums, the juggle....all OK. Because they are HERE. I know where they are. They are safe, and even if they are upset, they are healthy, and alive, and here for me to love them. That day put it all into perspective for me. It made me realize that I need a baby leash if I go anywhere more crowded than the supermarket, and it also made me see that you can survive ANYthing, anything is tolerable, when you are faced with the possibility, even for a split second, of losing one of your children.
So when they are screaming, or refusing to eat dinner, or jumping on the bed when I am trying to read at bedtime, I remember to remind myself: Take a deep breath...and be thankful.


Our family right after Ed finished the race.

Adam, my sweet boy, waiting to see his Dad run> by.

A Mom's To-Do List

I have a to-do list that I add to every day.
I am sure you do too.
Maybe you write it down, maybe it's in your head.
Mine is typed, saved on a Word-type document that is titled "To-Do".
Usually it includes items that I hope to complete that month,
but I try to tell myself that one very productive day I might bang them all out.
Unlikely. But I'm an optimist.

My “Ideal” TO-DO list today looks like this:
1. Fold laundry
2. Schedule time to view properties with R & J
3. Schedule time to view rentals with C
4. Do socks
5. Figure out what to make for dinner/make it.
6. Finish filing papers in office
7. Put old coffee pot, bowl and old toys on Freecycle
8. Clean kitchen counters
9. Swiffer
10. Get paper file thingie for Samantha’s desk
11. Buy new sheets for our bed
12. Clean out the car
13. Vacuum the car (yes, I like to make cleaning and vacuuming the car 2 things so that I feel
good if I even at least get ONE of those things done!!! OK! It's all psychological!)
14. Check on credit for Normandy house

Getting all of these items done would make me feel like I had the most productive day on the planet. What, you ask, is preventing me from accomplishing these 14 items?? They sure seem that they would not take too long and I could potentially accomplish them in the 3 hour period that Samantha, Sacha and Adam are in school, yes??

Well, that would be possible....if it were not for the OTHER To-Do list. THIS TO-DO list is NOT written down. It is in my head, and it is basically, basic things that need to be done, that I would feel silly writing down. These things absolutely need to get done, and prevent the “real” to-do list from getting more than 1-2 items knocked off it per day/week/month. I sometimes want to write down this TO-DO list, just so that I can remind myself of what I am doing all day that I am not able to get to the "REAL" to-do list. Today, I will write it down, so that I can see for myself, and so that you can see what it would look like:

Marisa's “BASIC” To-Do List
1. Sleep. (6 months of interrupted sleep with a new baby leave me tired and dying for more sleep every day. Even just an hour or two of sleep would make a world of difference.) This cannot happen, however, if the baby does not take a nap, or if her nap does not happen when the kids are in school. If the baby falls asleep, and I don't have to jet to pick up a child from school, I curl right up with her and sleep 5, 10, 20, 70 minutes, whatever time allows, to try to re-charge myself.

2. Eat. (this needs to happen to make milk for the baby. However, carrying the baby in one arm, and eating with the other, or finding food to make to eat, takes about 20 times longer than it would for a normal person. Also, I need to eat a lot, and constantly, to keep up with the milk production this hungry baby requires!)

3. Drink. (Again, need to do this to make milk for the baby, and also because I am thirsty. Is it crazy that I am writing this one down? It seems like it might be right??? Well, consider this- I am finally getting to one of my "real" to-do list tasks- say....folding laundry, while simultaneously entertaining the baby on the floor. Getting hydrated requires getting up, with baby, and getting water, again and again, from the kitchen, thus interupting any activity I was doing (holding baby, feeding baby, laundry, etc))
Maybe the baby's not so happy when I put her back down from getting water, or maybe she's mad I left her to GET water, so then I have to stop folding laundry and feed her, or change her, or just hold her, and stop laundry, altogether. See??? Drink does deserve one!

4. Pee. (These seem so basic, eh?? Not so easy!) Because the universe would have it that whenever I need to pee, the baby needs to be held, or is crying, or needs to eat, it is rare that I get the opportunity to go pee without the sound of a hysterically crying baby in the background. And if I do go, I have to immediately pick her up, and nurse her to calm her down, thus interrupting anything else that I could have been doing...ie. laundry, dinner prep, online property search...

5. Feed the baby. As in nurse the baby. She is just starting food, but her feedings consist 99% of my nursing her still. This is absolutely my favorite thing in the universe....however....when she is sick (as she has been since Thanksgiving, with one cold after another) she needs to eat every 20-30 minutes because she is congested and gets frustrated with nursing with a stuffy nose, and she is a hungry, growing baby. I treasure nothing more than my time spent nursing her, holding her little hand and staring at her beatiful eyes and hair, however, feeding the baby tends to cut into the above “real” to-do list big time.

6. Carry the baby. Again--especially because she is sick, Cecilia wants to be held, or she cries. I can try to put the Ergo on, and carry her around, and this works, while I prep dinner, make phone calls, but as soon as you have to complete #4 above (pee) the Ergo comes off, Cecilia goes in the crib, and we are back to #5 again (feeding)...and so it goes.

It is so very hard to explain, at the end of a long day, why a Mom like me is so tired. I look at my to-do list, and so little is usually crossed off of it. The pile of laundry at the foot of the bed grows (as I swore it never would when I was a child and my parents’ pile of laundry could swallow a couch), the mad hunt for socks continues every morning, and I watch the paper pile grow day by day because I don’t have an opportunity to put it away/file it. By the time the kids get home from school and we’re doing homework, dinner, etc, the day flies by, and the to-do list is forgotten altogether. If I cannot sometimes even complete the “basic” to-do list, how on God’s green earth do I expect the “ideal” to-do list to even get touched??? Forget returning a friends’ phone call, or even calling my Mom. (Sorry Mom, you know I love you) Thank God for text, or people would have thought the earth swallowed me whole once I hit 3 and 4 kids...

I imagine that one day, I will have time to pee and fold the laundry and gasp...even IRON!!! (which I love, it is ever so gratifying to me, I would iron every napkin & pillowcase and shirt with a collar, if I could...).....but I don’t know when that day will be.

For now, I am TRYING, very hard, to not obsess about my “real” or “essential” to-do lists, to be as easy on myself as I can, and to allow my former list-obsessed self to hide in the closet for a few years and let my Mom-self survive, soak up the love and get done as much as possible.... while still enjoying her kids.


(Sometimes it's better to sit on the laundry pile and have a tickle-fest than to actually fold clothes)


(We should be more like kids----enjoying life (ie, toys) in the midst of the chaos (ie. messy living room)- sometimes I would like to say to heck with the to-do list, but for now, I'll just say......it'll all get done in due time...)