Surprise!! I'm not a perfect mother.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, let me explain why I chose this particular title. First of all, I am a mother of 4 wonderfully inventive children and 1 intern (she's only 3 months old, but I know what's coming). One might say it isn't so significant to have 5 children but when you add the little detail that my oldest is 6 years old, it sheds a whole new light. (And before anyone asks...YES, I know what causes it!!) When people get to know me, I am often asked "How do you do it?," or "I don't know how you do it," and I think if only I had a dime for every time someone said this I would be a millionaire and could hire a nanny to help out. The truth is I don't know how I do it either. I just do. I get up each morning and face each new day with it's struggles and pleasures and pray, pray, pray.

Sometimes I feel that people put me up on a pedestal and come asking for advice on problems they are facing with their own children. (I suppose they mistake me for an expert on raising children.) I smile or laugh and tell them, "When you figure it out let me know too," because quite often I am facing the same challenges. My favorite is when someone comments on how patient I am with my children. (Come stop by my home about nap time and see how patient I can be!) That's when the video of the past 24 hours starts playing in my mind and I see all the times I lost my temper or thought about flushing one of my children down the toilet or throwing them in the garbage can. I admit I have used duct tape on my children to help them sit down in their chairs through a meal or two. (I love whoever invented duct tape!) My husband wasn't too thrilled when he first heard of my creative coping skills, but it is better than the alternative of me admitting myself to the nut house.

So why I am writing about all of this? I have learned as a mother how refreshing it is to hear about the trials that other mothers are facing, especially the ones we see as perfect mothers. I am dedicating this blog to writing the good, the bad, and the ugly of my own experiences of being a mother so that I might give someone who might be ready to throw in the towel a reason to keep going. (It's also a wonderful way for me to vent and I stink at keeping a journal so I guess I'm killing two birds with one stone.) And FYI, I won't be giving any names to protect my children from embarrassment and all that good stuff because I do love them very much.

So here is what happened on Father's Day today. We woke up later than my husband wanted to be and so he runs in a wakes up the children immediately. Well, there goes my idea of breakfast in bed for Daddy. Oh well, I try not to be too upset. I at least give him his card and let the children give him the shirts that I bought him.

Downstairs for breakfast, I serve up 6 grain for the children because it's leftover from the morning before and I make my hubby eggs, hash browns, and sausage to try and salvage the morning. (I had to make some for me too because there just wasn't enough 6 grain for me, Darn!) Of course the children start balking at the unfairness and I don't blame them either. Thank goodness for parental privileges.

Next comes the tricky part of fixing the hair of 3 girls for church, finding church shoes, getting everyone out to the van, and in their seat belts without someone having to go potty again, pulling their hair ties out, hitting their sibling(s), or losing a church shoe in less than 20 minutes. It happens to be Stake Conference this Sunday so I make a mad dash to the office to grab a few notepads and a pencil box of colored pencils to keep children happy for 2 hours. As a last minute thought, I grab a few Friends to add to the collection as well. As I am loading up my "activity bag" I notice there is a bottle on the table that one of my children had been using for breakfast and think to ask my husband if he had grabbed a bottle for that child. He had forgotten! We have done that once before and it got really ugly at church. Thank goodness I had seen that.

Phew! We make it church before the meeting starts, but we are in the hard chairs. Oh well, at least we made it. I immediately take all potty trained children to the bathroom to avoid any potty breaks during the meeting. One child runs way ahead of the rest of us and as I enter the restroom they have struck up a conversation with someone in there and was trying to peek under the stall doors. I point out that all the doors are locked and to wait for our turn. Potty breaks done we sit back down with Daddy.

The meeting starts right after we sit down and we get 5 minutes into it when a child says they have to go potty. Argh, we just got back. This time they need to go mess. We get to the bathroom they run in and then run out of the stall quickly. I asked if they went mess and they said no, just wet. I turn the water on for them to wash hands. Oops, they wanted to do it! (How could I forget.) Here comes a fit. I turn off the water they turn it back on and try to get soap that they can't reach. I ask if they want my help. NO!! I wait. Here comes another fit. Finally, they ask me for help. We get done and I ask my child to WALK reverently back in the meeting. I open the door and ZOOM they RUN clear around the other side of the aisle we're on and then cross in front everyone on the opposite end to sit back down. I'm still calm at this point.

Everything goes pretty well during the first half of the meeting other than a few more potty trips and children trying to draw on the chairs. The second half they loose it because they are bored and I even stand with one in the back because I'm giving Daddy the day off. As I watch my hubby from my sideline view though, I realize he isn't getting any time off at all! Sorry.

The meeting is finally over (YEAH!) and we make a mad dash for the van. No problems there. We get home and we open the doors and VROOM they run out in all directions. I ask them to come in for lunch and sit in their seats several times. (Huh? did you say something mother?) I'm tired and low on blood sugar by this point and I confess I lose it (Oops). They heard me that time.

The rest of Sunday passes pretty well without any catastrophes. So now I'm heading off to slumber land to find some peace there while I can get it. More to come tomorrow I'm sure.