Moments For Me #1

I decided to start up with Tammy's Moment's for Me Mondays. I haven't done it until now for the simple reason that I never took much time for myself. Ever. It's not that I don't ever get a moment to myself. It's that I don't always take a moment for myself. There is a BIG difference. There is a big difference between having a few spare moments thrown at you like a bone than there is actually taking those moments with the intention of self-filled indulgence. I always considered myself lucky if my husband decided to take a day off and stay home; freeing up a few hours for me to go do...whatever. And it normally is "whatever" because I'm kind of a planner (#12) and not real good with the whole "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of agenda. When I get thrown a bone I tend to catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry...you get the picture.

But I'm tired. I mean really f-ing tired. I have been in the wife/mother experience for almost 7 years and I have gotten few breaks. Occasionally my husband takes the kids to his parents for a couple days (2 hours away) but it is always during days that I am working. And this isn't to say that all the parental stress is on me. It isn't. He works his ass off and gets little time to himself as well. But he is much better at taking time. He can pull off a nap on Saturday afternoon or a movie on Sunday in a way that I can't. For some reason the kids leave him alone. If the kids see me with my feet up, well, that's invitation to come bug mommy. But I'm changing all that.

It started with this:

Moment #1

Mommy isn't fetching items out of the basement playroom anymore. This may not sound like much, but believe me, it is. Last week I began to stop that insanity with more backbone than I have ever shown previously. And it's working. Both of my children have fully functioning arms and legs and are more than capable of retrieving cups, plates, toys, shoes, etc..out of their basement playroom WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF MOMMY. I can't count the amount of times I have gone up and down the basement stairs simply to ferret out an item that could have been retrieved by the child. Well that madness is over. Don't have your cup? Well, you're going to be thirsty. Don't have your shoes? Well, you're going barefoot to school. Don't have your blankie? It's gonna be a long, lonely night in bed without it. You know what this backbone bought me? A 1/2 hour to watch my new addiction. An uninterrupted meal. Time on the couch with their dad talking about our day. Kind of nice, isn't it??

You are probably wondering why it has taken me so long to pull this off. I'll tell you why. I actually thought that making that trek downstairs a kajillion times a day was good for me. Seriously. I looked at it like a form of exercise. Kind of a StairMaster sort of thing. Well screw that. My ass and thighs don't look any better for all the work and I would rather plant my tired butt on the couch with a good magazine and a cup of coffee. It has been working out so well that I am beginning to wonder what other Mommy with a Backbone moments I can pull off. Check back soon ;)