Me: Unkempt. Second-day bangs. Christmas pajamas.
Jane: Snot bubbles flaring. Constipated. Probably bored with me.
On Saturday, our doorbell rang quickly twice in a row. This meant one of two things: the UPS man, or our four-year-old neighbor looking for some candy. I answered the door fully expecting to see our young friend or an Amazon box. I looked like the above photo (hell), and was surprised to see it was our elderly neighbor delivering some Valentine's treats. I think he went home and thought about having a stroke, he was so scared of the sight of me.
Guys, being a mom is hard. Let me be clear: I love my baby. Jane is a good baby; she sleeps through the night, most days takes pretty good naps, she's a good eater, and she's relatively healthy. But I'm still so, so exhausted. I don't know how you people with difficult/colicky/needy babies survive. You must be really, really tired.
I'm working from home part-time and somehow have to work twenty hours a week, keep a house clean, pay attention to Jason, raise a baby, feed a family, take care of myself, etc. I can't do it all, so some things are sacrificed. I'll once again reference the above photo to give you a hint as to one of the sacrifices I make. Also, if you come over to my house, let's just say that it wouldn't pass a white glove test. Or maybe, if there were gloves made out of dust, it wouldn't pass the "dust glove" test either, if you catch my drift.
The simplest of tasks have become so difficult. Now a simple trip to Target has to be strategically coordinated with feeding schedules and nap times, and those available times rarely coincide with when I'm showered and/or clothed. I miss Target.
I guess I'm just annoyed with seeing all these blogs with people living their fake, beautiful lives. I think everyone, at some point, comes to this realization of how unbelievably false BlogLand can be. I know this isn't a new thing, and it's definitely not new to me, I've just never typed it out before. I'm just so sick of, "Oh, this is the amazing bridal shower/birthday party/baby shower I just threw together so last minute for a friend. Blah blah blah, striped straws, blah blah blah Pinterest, blah blah blah amazing food with cute labels in front of it, blah blah blah photo booth with mustaches on sticks!!" I want to know how these people do it! Do they have full-time nannies? Are their husbands billionaires, or do their parents still give them money? Do they have cleaning ladies and personal trainers? Get real, people!
Anyway, that's enough writing about my feelings for the day. Wah wah wah, my life is hard, but it really isn't, so I'm done complaining. Want to go to Target with me? Just don't be startled if I look like Lydia from Beetlejuice. And don't come too close to me because I probably haven't brushed my teeth yet.
20 comments:
Favorite blog post in all of BlogLand. Honestly. I have been waiting for a blog post like this. I think you pull off the Lydia look really well. Keep up the good work.
"bla bla bla... unkempt picture of myself so you can see how pretty I still am when I roll out of bed..." Kidding, but you are way hotter than Lydia. Emzybear I love you! Being a mom and working and doing all the other day-to-day stuff is tough. I wish we could go to Target together in our jammies; I am in my jammies/workout clothes probably 80% of the day. I don't know how people with babies dress at all stylishly, because who has time to shop for clothes? Let alone put trendy outfits together? Pinterest is annoying, and people talking about Pinterest all the time is more annoying. And yes a lot of them have money from somewhere and have a lot of stuff done for them. The bottom line is you are awesome and real AND way more hilarious and fun to go to a party with than any of those characters.
My word verficiation is "spano" and I'm thinking about Saved By the Bell.
I love this post too! I am not even a parent and find it so incredibly difficult to cook, clean, and just take care of all the maitenence stuff that regualr adult life requires. I really am awed by people who seem to have it all together...like is it a personality type situation? Like do some people just have the ability to be more productive than others? Where does the motivation come from? I do not have it. And most of the time, I don't even get it! Like why would I want to be super productive anyway? ha, that is probably where it starts for me. What's the point? :) If left to my own devices, I would just go on walks and eat ice cream, and do nothing productive all day. I definitely wouldn't brush my hair. But you have a baby! And you look fabulous. She really is the cutest thing. You are doing a great job. :)Pinterest is interesting--for the most part, I look at stuff people are pinning and I think, who cares? haha, I like it for recipes and art stuff, but I don't want to spend too much time thinking about what everyone else is buying. Seems boring in a way! Anyway, I have written so much! I think what I am saying here is that each of us has to just give ourselves permission to love ourselves right where we are at. Some people are made to throw the parties, some people are made to go to the parties, you know? :)
AAAAAAAMEN! I wear workout clothes pretty much all of the time. I have a 4 year old who pretty much could raise himself so I have no excuse. As for those ridiculous parties people are always THROWING TOGETHER, teeheeeee!!, they have money. And their babies probably think their moms hate them. I may throw ugly parties, but at least my kid knows I adore him.
Also, having a baby is the hardest/kind of worst thing ever. Wait till Miss Jane gets a little older. It's SUPER fun, and you get to kind of be yourself again. :)
Just think... when you have four kids, it'll ALL be the same. I pretty much only wear makeup and get dressed on Sunday. I just wear pjs and workout clothes. In fact I made my kids walk home from school yesterday because I didn't feel like getting dressed. Life if radical. Did that make you feel better??
Emily I love you! I love the above pic! I can relate to that so well!
I can't believe you are doing everything plus working! When my kids go down I collapse onto my bed. But for me, having 3 now isn't anywhere near as hard as when I was still adjusting to 1. My first was such a demanding baby. Every day was such a challenge! And adjusting to life as a stay at home mom, with all that that entails, was the biggest adjustment of my life. It is more demanding than people realize. Remember, it does get easier.
Your Jane is such a little doll, absolutely gorgous! And you are doing an amazing job!
These kind of posts are easily my favorite kind of posts, and I spend a lot of time wishing the offending bloggers would read posts like these and calm the freak down.
But I also sometimes think of uploading all my cute/awesome life pictures so that my life looks like something to be jealous of. Because everyone's life looks good sometimes, and not as good other times, so with enough willpower and stripey straws you can create whatever dumb brand you want to out of yourself.
It's a real tug-of-war. Thank you for pulling in this direction. Hearts to you, and to your little spray of hair up top in this photo. It's like the cartoon ponytail on hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com -- you just need a square pink dress.
xoxo!
Been dreaming of red velvet pancakes, I think it is time (lion king voice)
Love this post, cause I seriously think this A LOT...been considering deleting my blog (since I don't post anyway :)) and deleting subscriptions from my google reader. I get so sick of hearing about everyone else's perfect life. Anyway, hang in there! I can't believe you are working too, that is tough...Miss you guys. Jane is super adorable!
Very well said! Just wait until you have 2 kids! Geesh! Our first night home was a disaster and here I am at work now struggling to keep my eyes open. I am going to blog about it now, ha!
We are still at Target at least once a week, and I think we go to the same one, we will look for you and your unkempt self, ha ha! This is just great! Blah blah blah
thanks for keeping it real!
I always feel like people always randomly drop by at my worst moments too :(
Honestly, having a baby IS
so freakin hard, and most of the time the thing that is sacrificed is the mommy. It will eventually get better.... eventually....
You have a TON going on right now. Of course you are exhausted!
The truth is, its hard for everyone and anyone who says otherwise is lying!
I am positive that you are doing better than you think!
Wish you and cute Jane were coming out to houston too!
Oh Emmy, I wish I could take a picture of my house right now and send it to you, because there is stuff strewn on every floor and every counter top and I'm too tired and lazy to do anything about it. I feel your pain--hang in there. Working from home with a baby is rough--I did it, too, and I had many a nervous breakdown. Things have a way of evening out, though...you'll be fine!
Love you,
Juju
Best post ever. I look like hell most days and I don't work from home! You are amazing. And I think your priorities are spot on. Sacrifice the bangs or freshly brushed teeth or clean toilets to make sure a baby is fed and clean and and husband is at least relatively happy and somewhat fed ;) One this is clear, you're in good company despite what fake bloggy land may lead you to believe.
This might sound strange, but my most difficult, overwhelming mothering time was when I had one baby under age 1. It seems like the older Carson got, the more fun we had and the more things we could do and enjoy together (like go to Target). And for some reason, adding more kids has made me feel even more capable at things like making dinner, keeping the house tidy, etc. I'm not saying my house is anything close to perfectly clean, but I do feel like I'm getting better and better at those things.
This article describes what I am talking about. http://www.ncregister.com/blog/simcha-fisher/to-the-mother-with-only-one-child
Um, I think you look good. Throw on some jeans and you could totally go to Target like that.
I think working part time is hard, like really hard with a kid and you're together all the time. It sometimes takes me all day 6 days a week to hit 20 hours but I never worked 20 when Aubrey was a baby. It was more like 10-12 hours. I don't know how you do 20.
I wish I could give you great advice on how to make it all fit in nicely but it probably won't. Something has to take a backseat and for me, it's usually a clean house.
There is one thing I can tell you. It gets so much easier as she gets older but it really sucks at first.
Best blog post EVER! I feel like blogging/social networking is like high school all over again. Look how cool my life is and how popular I am. I get sick of hearing how perfect everyone's life is (or how they are displaying it to be). I can't keep my house clean and all I do is go to work. I'm kind of over blogs lately (probably why I didn't read this post until just now). Hang in there and thanks for always keeping it real!!
thanks for the honestly. I keep looking for gems like you. because the fake stuff can only go so far! (ps I am shayna's sister)
All I have to say is, AMEN!
Oh Emmy... Can I just say.. "I told you so?" or should I just say "Welcome to the club." It's the hardest job in the world. At least your kid sleeps at night. Don't waste your time reading all that crap that's not real on-line. Noticed I haven't posted since November? I'm over it. I'll watch Janie so you can go to Target, then I'll leave the boys w/ you AND Janie so I can go to Target. That's totally fair, right?
Amen and word to yo mothah. Truer observations have never been made about blogging perfect people, I want to punch them. But let me say this, you and your blog are epic, period, and I came to that realization about myself and my peeps, I'm awesome and so are people I'm really friends with, b/c they are real. That's what's up.
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