Happy Friday, friends! Our compostomatoes are coming along nicely. I had to put up a tomato cage this week because the plant is so laden with tomatoes that it was starting to bend. The second plant has a few baby green tomatoes on it as well, so that's exciting!
So let's get started on Friday thoughts, shall we?
*Motherhood brings about the most dramatic brain changes of a woman's life.
I mean, it makes sense when you think about it. You have an entirely new, defenseless human who will be doing things like screaming at you for hours because you wouldn't let her shove her fingers into the electrical outlet while your son is starting at a new school in a new town and you're worried about him and you've just moved into a new house and have to unpack everything in it (not that I have any experience with this at all *hysterical, exhausted laughter*). It makes sense that your brain changes in order to best care for the human beings you created/are charged with herding into adulthood. Is there *any* way to properly prepare expectant parents for the way that your brain no longer feels like your own for a while? A good start would be at least warning them about it, I think, and it seems like most doctors don't. I think we have a long way to go in the US before pre- and postnatal care is at the standard it should be, though (and that's not a slam on the profession or the hardworking people who staff it, more a criticism of some of the practices, the healthcare system as a whole, and the US's high maternal mortality rate. Definitely room for improvement there).
* Real-Time World Air Quality Index
What's the air quality like where you live? Plug in your address and see what you're rated. As I'm checking right now, we're at about 31, but we were 70 the other night. Fascinating stuff!
*A Winter Treat -- Home Baking
It's winter in Australia, and Rhonda Jean over at Down to Earth has some gorgeous baking to share! Seriously, is that not just the prettiest post? It's been in the 80's here. Not exactly prime baking weather, but I did do a little of it this week. My baking doesn't look nearly as professional or delicious as Rhonda Jean's does, but I'm working on it. :)
And finally, two posts for the price of one:
Mamas of strong-willed children, your parenting will pay off
Musings on Hot Mess Motherhood
Hooooooooooooooooooooo boy. This parenting thing is HARD. HARD, HARD, HARD. It's exhausting- mentally, emotionally, physically. It's a never ending parade of repetitive, unfulfilling tasks that start over again as soon as you finish- laundry clean, folded, and put away? Please, you're still wearing jeans that you haven't washed in two weeks and a shirt your kid smeared her breakfast-covered face on. Dishes washed? HAHAHAHA, there's a collection of furry sippy cups under the couch, and don't act like you didn't see them. Older kids need to be dropped off and picked up while the baby screams, and when baby finally goes down for a nap, dinner needs to be prepared, and have you SEEN the state of the living room?
During my daughter's early years, I so often felt like nothing. Everything I did, every task around the house, could have been outsourced. I felt like an unpaid servant, and since I was running on about three or four hours of broken up sleep every day, I felt incredibly unfulfilled by all of it (I'm not sure why we expect mothers to derive all their emotional and intellectual fulfillment from wiping poopy bottoms, begging their children to eat more than two Cheerios for a meal, and scrubbing tomato soup stains out of toddler clothes). Being a parent, especially the stay at home parent, with young children is challenging, and while I wouldn't trade my lot in life for anything, I think it's past time that we all started admitting that it's not all soft pastel snuggles and fuzzy warm cuddles. It's breaking down in tears in the kitchen because you were up six times last night, you're exhausted, and your kid just dumped food all over the floor while you were still mopping (been there, done that). It's yelling about something trivial and then feeling terrible about it. It's cuddling your adorable toddler, only to have them barf in your lap and all over the cat. It's friends speculating on how wonderful your life must be, and you smiling and not telling them that you spent the last week crying because the only intellectual stimulation you get is from someone who isn't well-versed in human language, along various forms of screeching cartoons.
This parenting gig? It's tough, even when we love our kids to pieces. As I type this, I'm sitting next to my adorable four year old. In a few minutes, I need to go hose her down, because she's covered in breakfast spaghetti (hey, she's eating. It's food. I'm happy). Life is a lot easier these days; I'm sleeping normally through the night and my daughter is past the phase where every move she made (or wanted to make) would possibly kill her and I had to be constantly on Toddler Death Watch. It's not as tough right now; it's more about the joy of watching her learn and grow, and for that, I'm eternally grateful. And maybe still a little traumatized, but fortunately, that joy outweighs it now.
What's been on your mind this week?
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