Mother's Day 2014 was a success in many ways! Blake was a doting husband and tried his very best to make sure Mommy didn't have to lift a finger. Flowers, dinner, clean up, dessert.... it was above and beyond. A very very sweet mother's day hike and family night made my day.... b
ut with so many young ones in the mix, trying to do it all equated to a slightly grumpy daddy!
Mommy was happy and thrilled at the beginning of the day to receive darling cards and loves from her beautiful children. But as the day progressed, Mom became slightly discouraged that her angel children did not actually have any real intentions to display more strict obedience or offer more help than they might have on any other ordinary day. She told them so. At the end of the day, both Mom and Dad were a little grumpy and Mom didn't even feel like tucking children into bed. Dad was so worn out, he didn't have the energy either. Not the greatest ending to Mother's Day 2014!
That being said.... Mom did learn A LOT about what she will do differently next year.
First and foremost, our children are still very young and with that, neither Blake nor I can expect one person to be able to handle everything and still be relaxed and grinning at the end of the day!
So, Blake and I talked about how next year, we won't plan on him doing EVERYTHING. I will help clean, or tend to kids while he cleans, I won't expect silence in my bed for long periods of time with no child barging in the door to wake me up. That's what kids do! They wake up their mom! So, Blake will re-adjust his expectations of what he can physically provide for me.
Secondly, I will re-adjust my own expectations regarding the children. In regards to their treatment of me, I was thinking of them as if they were teenagers! Why couldn't they just obey?? It was Mother's Day after all! And why wouldn't Evelyn go clean the playroom after I dropped a huge hint that it would be a kind thing to do on such a special day?? Didn't happen and I became discouraged and felt my children didn't love me as much as they should, or I hadn't raised them right to know that it was important to do these things, especially on special occasions.
Next year will be different! After a day's reflection and reading a few articles, I came to the conclusion that I can only have an expectation for myself on holidays and special occasions. My happiness cannot hinge on what my husband or children do or do not do! If I challenge myself to enjoy the day, being the kind of loving, patient mother that I want to be.... well then I will be happy at day's end after having worked to achieve that goal. I won't be looking at everything that the kids did and equating that to my own level of satisfaction. That just never ends well. They are only children and they do love me very very much! Despite their disobedience and lack of help.... haha. But they are not in charge of my happiness.
All this being said, I feel very confident that next year, and every year after, I will expect on Mother's Day to try to be a good, patient, present mother. And I will be happy with my efforts no matter what the day holds. And this goes for all holidays! Lesson learned!
we gave these out in primary-- very cute
