Let's Just Not, Shall We?

Mom Guilt.

It's a real thing.

Non-Moms and Dads don't always get it, but let me tell you - it's real.

It keeps us from exercising, getting a hair cut, getting our nails done, leaving the house, sleeping, going on a date or even eating.

Add on to regular mom guilt, that of "Catholic guilt" which I only know about as a pseudo-Catholic raising tiny Catholic men.

Add on to mom guilt plus Catholic guilt, that of TRAVELING mom guilt.

That's who you're dealing with over here.

Hot mess!

Matt and I laugh about what others think of our lifestyle sometimes.  We hear the comments....the "well she's never home" or the "wow, he does everything alone" or the "yeah, she has to bring her mother in law down to help."

Well, first let me say this:  Everything is not as it seems.

(my mom-in-law IS great, by the way!)

Matt and I calculated that if every day of the week is created equal - which it's not - he gets 9 more hours a week with the kids than I do.  NINE, people.  And, let's be clear - these are not quality hours.  These are hours where he's harassing them to eat breakfast faster or looking for their shoes or making sure they don't drown each other in the bath tub.  They are survival hours.

Or, maybe those are the most important hours but I get plenty of those too.

We have A LOT of quality time together as a family. (reference previous blogs or FB/IG accounts)

When I'm home, Matt travels for his job too.  I never hear anyone whispering about me taking care of the kids for 8-10 days straight while he's in glamorous places 4-5 times/year.

Raising babies on Saturdays and Sundays is different than a weekday.

There's no score keeping in our house either.  We are #TeamSchneider all day long....and we coordinate and accommodate and compromise.

We also fight, argue, stress and figure it all out together....while brushing tiny teeth, finding toddler shoes, making sure Lucky has food (why does everyone EAT SO MUCH), kissing boo-boos, shuttling toddlers to karate/basketball/soccer/music class and tackling every single meltdown along the way (usually my own).

No one said this would be easy....but they said something about fun...and joy.  And, it's all there.

Just look at their happy, smiley faces:

We play basketball as a family!  Jack plays, Matt and I coach, Beau is asst/cheerleader.

We go watch MONSTER TRUCKS!!!

   

We compete at the Disney races!

 

We enjoy warm weather in December!

 

We celebrate birthdays with lots of friends and family!

  

We go to Church as a family....  maybe as a family of monkeys, but at least we make the effort!

We celebrate Christmas in festive Santa suits and with family trips to the ZOO!

Matt and I with Baby E!

 

We hung out with the turtles over the holidays....

Life isn't perfect.  We take it day by day.  We fit a lot into our lives.  We plan a lot.  

We also RE-plan a lot.

We say things like "that's not on the calendar, dude!" -- and then we figure it out anyway.

Mom guilt prevents me from taking time to get my hair cut.  It causes me to apologize every time I need a babysitter or an hour to myself to run easy errands that would otherwise take me all day with two kids in tow.

And, I'm not telling you all of this to convince you about my situation.  I'm telling you in the off chance that 1 other mom reads this and says "I'm done with that guilt stuff too.  I'm a good mom and there's time for me, my husband and my kids to thrive."

We have a happy home and no room for guilt.

So, I'm done.

You?