Motherhood: not a job for wimps

Being a mom is no easy task.  If you are a mom, you are probably smiling and nodding your head.  If your a mommy to be, you have NO IDEA what you just got yourself into.  If you are not a mom, you will probably think me a mean person who is an unfit mother.... talk to me after you have your own kids and we will see how you feel then.

There are all different types of mommies as well... today we are going to look at the (mostly) stay at home mom of multiple children.  Namely, myself!  

I look around at the other moms I know who are in the same boat I am and think, wow, that girl has got it all together!  Her kids are all the same age as mine, she also does some part time work, but look how great her life is.  

Take for instance my wonderful cousin in law Jenn.  Not only does she have a great name, she always seems to have everything under control.  I mean, I can hardly keep Lillie's hair under control, thank goodness Korinthia doesn't have hair yet!  And somehow every time I see Jenn and her girls they all have the cutest (cleanest) clothes and their hair is up and out of their eyes, and she has 2 girls with hair!  Even when we were camping.  Now I know my daughter is a slob, she can make messes like no one else, but why can't I keep up with her?

And her girls are so smart and polite... My son apparently while visiting my parents, greeted those at church who spoke to him with an obnoxious noise.  What on earth?  That is not how Jereme nor I greet people, where did he learn that!

Anyhow, it wasn't until I read Jenn's blog that I realized her life isn't as perfect as I thought it was.. I mean, to me it still looks pretty grand, but it is nice to know that I am not the only one who feels like I sometimes suffer through my days as a mother of three children!

Ok, on to what prompted the post...

So the kids are allowed to spend "nap time" as more of a quiet time, strike that, WERE allowed, no longer though.

Normally we would tell the kids to go to their room for the set hours of "nap time" to give mommy some get things done time.  During this time they could play with toys, read books, or take a nap... as long as they stayed in their room and were not to loud it was fine.  Well this weekend they decided it was time to trash the room completely.  This was on Friday.  Books all over the room,  toys, pretty much everything they owned with the exception of clothing.  For once they didn't empty their dressers.  This would not have been such a big deal, but they have a small room, and all three are in it.  We couldn't hardly put them to bed at night because there was no where to walk.  Plus the fact 

that they also went into the bathroom to go "potty" and got my makeup bag and gave themselves and their room a "makeover" which I discovered when they came out from nap time and Lillie looked like she had a black eye.  I didn't get a picture of that, but I did get Malaki wearing mascara... this was hardly the worst of it but I wasn't thinking about pictures at the time (this was actually taken quite a bit later)

So we told the kids that they had till Sunday to clean the room, or ALL of the toys would be put away in the attic where they can't get them.  We frequently reminded them and sent them to clean their room, at which point they trashed it even more (how was that possible!) till Sunday finally came.  That afternoon we told them to get on the top bunk (Malaki's bed) and watch mommy and daddy clean.  "You won't like it when mommy and daddy clean your room" we told them.  We started throwing everything into big blue tubs, telling them the whole time why we were taking all of their toys.  When we were done we told them they were each going to get one toy because they didn't throw a fit while we cleaned out the room.

Lillie got to keep her baby, and Malaki his rat, this was done more so we could get them to sleep at night then anything else.

Anyhow, the kids didn't really notice too much about the toys and books being gone.  I left one book for each so we can still read stories... plus they like to read to themselves before going to sleep at night.  

It didn't really sink in with Lillie till today that her toys are gone.   She went looking for her puppy and was devastated to find all of her toys missing.  It was heartbreaking as she sat on my lap and sobbed, but Jereme and I decided that they need to learn to stop doing this, and when I clean it up because I am tired of making them do it I am enabling them.  So by doing this they can start slowly learning to keep things picked and and they won't get more than they can mange.  It is hard to be the bad guy though.

We decided that in a few days they can start earning back their toys, although some we just plan to get rid of... We will slowly start letting them have toys back if they clean their room when they are told.. they get a "new" toy from upstairs.  If they don't, everything not put away goes back upstairs... With all three of them in there it doesn't take long for the room to become too hard to walk in.  And since Korinthia has a cold and is getting up at night I am sick of stubbing my toes trying to go get her.

For now I am just watching closely to make sure that they don't get into other things, and we have been coloring and playing with the few things we have... while I remind them that if they keep things clean they will get some more toys.  

The plus side of the lack of toys is that Lillie is not so distracted and is remembering to go use the potty again (she had a bit of a rough patch for awhile)