…… Just re-read the title I chose for this particular piece and just want to clarify, I mean “adulting” to be “being an adult” not anything to do with adultery….
I say this all the time, but three kids seriously threw me and I’ve yet to recover. I hate to think about the usual state of my house since baby number three became mobile. I shudder to think of the half-arsed meals I’ve thrown in the general direction of the older kids while I was busy. I imagine judgemental glares when I dwell on the steady decline in my parental involvement between children one and three. I envision divorce lawyers when I remember how my poor husband was waaaaay down on my list of priorities.
But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel! My youngest is 19 months old now (by the way, this is how I know how old the baby is now, it’s embarrassing how vague my idea of his age is.) and finally, like only in the last month or so, I’ve started being able to act like a capable adult again. Some of the time at least. My house is clean at least 2 days out of the week, I’ll occasionally manage to have dinner sorted before my husband gets home, at least three days out of the week I find the time to do my makeup, and sometimes I even have super mum moments where I’ll actually do cool things with the kids like make play dough or get them involved in baking.
On one hand, my son is entering the terrible twos and has developed a fierce stubborn streak that endlessly aggravates my daughter and causes no end of conflict. My daughter seems to go out of her way to antagonise her big brother and he knows just what buttons to push to wind her up. On the other hand, when the planets align and my small portion of the world is at peace life is fantastic. When I feel like I’m kicking ass at being a grown up everything, including loud and frustrating children, is easier to deal with the way you imagined dealing with it before you have kids. It sometimes feels like I’m just an epic parenting fail, but knowing that slowly (oh, so very slowly!) I’m improving gives me hope that eventually my house will be clean more often than not, I’ll put my makeup on in the morning rather than while the kids are eating lunch, my husband and I will go on dates, and my kids will be awesome because I’m awesome.
I’m by no means out of the tunnel, but there’s a light and I know I’m heading towards it so it’s all good.
beginnerhousewife 