I've been having a hard time finding the time to sit and let my thoughts out. It seems there are always dishes to wash, laundry to fold, and kids that are crying and need attention. If anyone that is thinking about starting a family finds this blog, please know that having children is rewarding and fun.. but very hard. Sometimes it can fill your soul, othertimes you lose yourself.
I believe a big factor in which way you end up is in the support system you have around you. Then theres the little things that make or break you. Are your children developing at the "normal" expected rate, or do they have delays or gaps? Special medical situations? What about you? Are you "normal"? So many of us are nowadays, if the term "normal" is to be used. I've never been able to define what it really means myself... For this purpose, do you have depression? anxiety? ocd? autism? medical issues? What about your relationship? Single parent, or married, divorced? Now I want you to put those big issues aside and think about all the tiny details of having children. Right now they're dreams, and you sigh when you think about them. Well someday you'll be crying. I promise. No really! I'm not trying to be a downer. Just a realist.
You will make choices that you will question. Nearly every single day. And if you're a good parent, you'll agonize over those choices. You'll beat yourself up until no can even recognize that you're under there anymore. Under that Mommy hat. The one you take off less and less the more kids you have and the more years that go by.
I wrote a post years ago about losing myself, and trying to find it again. Sometimes I wish I knew how much other mothers go through. I wish I had someone to tell me to sit down and stop cleaning. (Other than my husband who doesn't do much of the cleaning at all.) I wish I had that support system that other people seem to have (and ironically don't want.) You see, I can't just sit down and relax. I can't put my feet up and just let life happen, because I have such a hard time feeling calm and together when there is chaos. And with 5 kids there is a lot of chaos!
Its 9:52 in the morning and I decided to try to write this blog post. One child was coloring, one was playing the PSP, one was watching Spongebob on the Ipod Touch, and another one is watching daddy play the PS3. Everyone was relatively calm. So why can't I feel calm enough to let the dishes sit in the sink? Why do I feel like the laundry MUST be folded? And why do I put those feelings onto other people? I wish I knew.
Everyone would say its because I do the bulk of everything in this house. I'm overwhelmed and frusterated. My husband should do more. Things should be 50/50. And I agree. But I don't know how to accomplish that. I'm not him. I can't make him do anything and all those little things about leaving dishes in the sink until he does them, etc.. they don't work. He really will just wash what he needs and go about his day. Somewhere along his childhood, he didn't learn responsibility. I know a lot of parents that don't seem to be parenting. They aren't present, they aren't THERE. they're off at the bars, or gambling, or texting, or facebooking or playing video games. For them, the laundry can and does wait. They don't worry about money or how to keep a coat on their kids in the middle of winter. I know, because I see their children in sweatshirts in December, shivering at the bus stop.
So why then, do I feel that I need at least SOME of what they have? I don't know. I feel like I don't have balance over my life. I wear that Mommy hat all the time and I don't ever get to take it off.
I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if this situation is normal. Does EVERY married woman do all the chores, and take care of the kids 100% of the time? We can't be the only couple that has this issue. I'm the ONLY woman with issues, married to a man with issues, that has kids?! .. That can't be true. Yet it is. I don't know.. it just seems that things are never as easy as other people. Yet I know that isn't true either because my children don't have severe medical issues, and their other issues we are working with.. Others have it far worse than I do. It seems to come full circle to support. I have no one to talk to, no one to complain to, no one to cry to, and no one to look to for advice or love. Once upon a time I had my husband. Like all good things though that, for the most part.. has come to an end. He's here. But he isn't really.
So just what is the connection in this blog post? How does all this rambling add up? Well it doesn't. Its disjointed, disconnected, rambling, incoherant at times, and downright confusing. It is exactly like my life is.
I promise there is more to me than confusion and sadness. I simply have a hard time accessing it right now. I need people around me that are positive supports, and at this time I have no one except a handful of people willing to listen in texts. I need real life. I need coffee and talking. I need someone to help organize my spice cupboard and clean my clutter with me. I need someone to listen to my last fight and remember how funny things were 10 years ago.
I started this blog years ago as my own way to open up and have validation and support. Oddly enough people read but rarely comment. I suspect there is a certain voyerism to listening to me vent. And of course, there is the disjointed part. Maybe people wanting to know more about what its like to have autism, or parent children with autism.. will be the ones to understand this blog the best.
I contemplated deleting it the other day, but I decided for my own sake not too. ... but I find it pretty telling that even on the internet, with the potential to reach millions.. I am still alone. I don't know if anyone reads my posts or even cares. All I know is I feel so lost and so overwhelmed, and so alone all the time.
I believe a big factor in which way you end up is in the support system you have around you. Then theres the little things that make or break you. Are your children developing at the "normal" expected rate, or do they have delays or gaps? Special medical situations? What about you? Are you "normal"? So many of us are nowadays, if the term "normal" is to be used. I've never been able to define what it really means myself... For this purpose, do you have depression? anxiety? ocd? autism? medical issues? What about your relationship? Single parent, or married, divorced? Now I want you to put those big issues aside and think about all the tiny details of having children. Right now they're dreams, and you sigh when you think about them. Well someday you'll be crying. I promise. No really! I'm not trying to be a downer. Just a realist.
You will make choices that you will question. Nearly every single day. And if you're a good parent, you'll agonize over those choices. You'll beat yourself up until no can even recognize that you're under there anymore. Under that Mommy hat. The one you take off less and less the more kids you have and the more years that go by.
I wrote a post years ago about losing myself, and trying to find it again. Sometimes I wish I knew how much other mothers go through. I wish I had someone to tell me to sit down and stop cleaning. (Other than my husband who doesn't do much of the cleaning at all.) I wish I had that support system that other people seem to have (and ironically don't want.) You see, I can't just sit down and relax. I can't put my feet up and just let life happen, because I have such a hard time feeling calm and together when there is chaos. And with 5 kids there is a lot of chaos!
Its 9:52 in the morning and I decided to try to write this blog post. One child was coloring, one was playing the PSP, one was watching Spongebob on the Ipod Touch, and another one is watching daddy play the PS3. Everyone was relatively calm. So why can't I feel calm enough to let the dishes sit in the sink? Why do I feel like the laundry MUST be folded? And why do I put those feelings onto other people? I wish I knew.
Everyone would say its because I do the bulk of everything in this house. I'm overwhelmed and frusterated. My husband should do more. Things should be 50/50. And I agree. But I don't know how to accomplish that. I'm not him. I can't make him do anything and all those little things about leaving dishes in the sink until he does them, etc.. they don't work. He really will just wash what he needs and go about his day. Somewhere along his childhood, he didn't learn responsibility. I know a lot of parents that don't seem to be parenting. They aren't present, they aren't THERE. they're off at the bars, or gambling, or texting, or facebooking or playing video games. For them, the laundry can and does wait. They don't worry about money or how to keep a coat on their kids in the middle of winter. I know, because I see their children in sweatshirts in December, shivering at the bus stop.
So why then, do I feel that I need at least SOME of what they have? I don't know. I feel like I don't have balance over my life. I wear that Mommy hat all the time and I don't ever get to take it off.
I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if this situation is normal. Does EVERY married woman do all the chores, and take care of the kids 100% of the time? We can't be the only couple that has this issue. I'm the ONLY woman with issues, married to a man with issues, that has kids?! .. That can't be true. Yet it is. I don't know.. it just seems that things are never as easy as other people. Yet I know that isn't true either because my children don't have severe medical issues, and their other issues we are working with.. Others have it far worse than I do. It seems to come full circle to support. I have no one to talk to, no one to complain to, no one to cry to, and no one to look to for advice or love. Once upon a time I had my husband. Like all good things though that, for the most part.. has come to an end. He's here. But he isn't really.
So just what is the connection in this blog post? How does all this rambling add up? Well it doesn't. Its disjointed, disconnected, rambling, incoherant at times, and downright confusing. It is exactly like my life is.
I promise there is more to me than confusion and sadness. I simply have a hard time accessing it right now. I need people around me that are positive supports, and at this time I have no one except a handful of people willing to listen in texts. I need real life. I need coffee and talking. I need someone to help organize my spice cupboard and clean my clutter with me. I need someone to listen to my last fight and remember how funny things were 10 years ago.
I started this blog years ago as my own way to open up and have validation and support. Oddly enough people read but rarely comment. I suspect there is a certain voyerism to listening to me vent. And of course, there is the disjointed part. Maybe people wanting to know more about what its like to have autism, or parent children with autism.. will be the ones to understand this blog the best.
I contemplated deleting it the other day, but I decided for my own sake not too. ... but I find it pretty telling that even on the internet, with the potential to reach millions.. I am still alone. I don't know if anyone reads my posts or even cares. All I know is I feel so lost and so overwhelmed, and so alone all the time.
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