The Curse of Supermom

In a past post I wrote about how much I love Pinterest. Now, that hasn't changed one bit...but I'm beginning to realize that having it in my life is both a blessing and a curse.

Clearly, there are many reasons why it is awesome. 

1. You get tons of recipes without having to shell out the money for a recipe book (that will sit unused in the cupboard...not that I'm speaking from experience or anything). 
2. You are able to stumble across many amazing blogs that you never would have found before while searching the internet trying to earn 3 measly Swagbucks. Which to be honest, I will probably forget about and never redeem. 
3. CRAFTS! PROJECTS! and TIPS! Oh my! Really, besides all the food pins that make you feel like you could be a 5 star chef, there are all these pins that inspire you to be creative/crafty/clean...um..y. Cleany. Even though the best you've ever drawn is a stick figure on Hangman, suddenly you feel the need to have a board full of artwork that you are determined to replicate. Oh, that old sled that has been sitting in the garage? HANG IT FROM THE CEILING AND HANG POTS & PANS ON IT. <---not joking. I am thinking of doing that. Check it out here. 

I could probably think of a couple more reasons why Pinterest is great, but I'm beginning to ramble. So I'll move on to why Pinterest can be such a pain in the rear end.

1. There are so many awesome things, that you end up spending more time pinning than actually doing. "Pin now, read later." Sound familiar? Also, while going through my recipe board I realized that I pinned a whole heck of a lot of things to make with pumpkin while I was pregnant.  Pumpkin anything sounded DELICIOUS while I was pregnant. Now? Not so much. Then there is the conundrum of, do I delete pumpkin-related pins? Do I keep them? Real world issues here, people! And, lesson learned, not everything should be made in a crock-pot. 
2. You find a pin that sounds pretty neat, click on it, and then spend the next 20 minutes reading how to paint your own knock off tumblers only to realize that you just wasted 20 minutes of your day learning how to paint knock off tumblers that you didn't even want the original of in the first place. 
3. Which brings me to the whole crux of this post: Pinterest makes me feel inadequate. Please indulge me while I soapbox. 

I realized that I view all these amazing things that people are doing and while wishing that I could do all of them too, I start to doubt myself because this is the vision in my head of what I am supposed to be as a SAHM:

Supermom. 

The image of homemaker perfection, although I have no idea if Superwoman was ever a homemaker...it's my vision, OK?  

But I feel more like... 

My apologies to the internet stranger whose picture this is. But you showed up as a result of a "disheveled woman" search. You also didn't score me any Swagbucks while doing that search. How dare you.

Usually I feel as though my house is a disaster. I can never meal plan properly. I am constantly stressed about our budget and can never be quite frugal enough. I'm behind on putting away laundry/diapers. Shall I continue?

Don't worry, I know Pinterest isn't really to blame. When I've sat down and had my (18th) cup of coffee and showered and changed so that I don't look like a homeless lady who accidently wandered into a house, I remember that I am not perfect. I am definitely not Superwoman (but wouldn't that be cool?). When I read those awesome blogs and see other women are painting masterpieces, shingling their roof with one hand tied behind their back, having a made-from-scratch organic dinner from their own garden on the table every night, all the while her 36 kids are clean, well-mannered, and mastered a Romance language while in-utero; it is definitely easy to doubt your own ability and to view yourself as a failure. That is my problem. Here I am, having a Stepford Wives freakout while not realizing that I am doing just fine. I am not failing, and that is something that I might need to remind myself of more often. Or hourly daily. Otherwise, I'm going to make myself cray cray and miss out on the really important things going on in my life. 

Yeah, there are currently muddy dog foot prints in my kitchen. I'm waaaay behind on laundry due to a broken laundry machine. And my kid likes to try to play in the toilet. But that's my family and my life, and I kind of love it. Like, a lot.

And I know things won't magically change overnight, and it will take time to not stress about not getting things done. It is definitely a work in progress. 

SEW WHAT, I'm still a rockstar!

Courtesy of my wonderful husband and mother, I received my very own sewing machine for my 28th birthday. As a youngster, my mother sewed EVERYTHING. Our clothes, Halloween costumes, Barbie clothes...you name it. She is very good at sewing, as was my grandmother. I, however, am pretty sure I received a very dismal grade on my sewing project in Home Ec. during middle school. I decided sewing was not for me.

Then I got addicted to cloth diapering.

And I wanted to SEW ALL THE THINGS!

How does cloth diapering make a person want to sew? Well, it started out with wipes. When Roman was first in cloth diapers, we were using disposable wipes since we already had them. For some reason, the thought of using cloth wipes grossed me out. I have no idea why. The concept is the same as a cloth diaper. Poop and pee on a diaper is still poop and pee on a wipe. So I decided to order some on Etsy. Seriously...some people need a punch in the face to bring them back to reality for how much they are selling their wipes. Unless it wipes my baby's rear for me while I'm kicking back, sipping my coffee -- I'm not giving you $938 (slight exaggeration) for two wipes. GET OVER YOURSELF.

Anyways, so I bought some wipes. They were cute and worked extremely well. I also don't feel bad when I have to use 175 wipes during one diaper change. Going green for the win!

I realized I could sew my own wipes. I borrowed a sewing machine from a friend and asked my mom for help. 

9 months pregnant and SEWING WIPES. SO EXCITED!

They did not turn out very good. Whatever tutorial I had pinned on Pinterest (CURSE YOU BAD PIN!) did not mention that flannel frayed. I had no idea. 

Newb. 

Then I learned and made better wipes. Another wipes post will come another day. For right now, this whole post was building up to....this:

I MADE MY OWN WET BAG! 

I am so proud of myself. I have no idea if it will hold up in the wash, but the fact that I made this is awesome. I feel accomplished. Booyah! 

Also, can you tell I'm obsessed with damask? LOVE IT. 

It's not a marathon, it's a sprint.

Or at least it seems that way, right?! That is a picture of my baby. "Walking" with his little wheelie-walker-thing (I have no idea what it is really called) -- he just turned 8 months on the 26th. Next thing you know, I'll be taking him to his first day of school. Snapping photos of him and his date before prom. Giving him away at his wedding.....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

STOP GROWING UP SO FAST!

Breathe...just breathe. It's true though. If you would have told me while I was pregnant, when I felt like time was moving along at a snail's pace,  that my little baby would be changing, learning, and experiencing all these new and amazing things so quickly...I would not have been able to understand. I totally get it now...once you pop that kid out, life moves at warp-speed.  

Even in the last week, so much has changed. He amazes me more and more each day. His personality is coming out more and more. His desire to experience the world around him, is just as exciting to me as it is for him...although I don't think he is having quite the heart attack I am when he does something that causes him to stumble or fall onto his rear. 

And boy, can he be such a stinker! He'll start crawling towards something that he probably shouldn't be getting into and as I'm calling to him to stop, I swear he turns to me...and SMILES. Then he continues, locked on target until I pick him up. 

I could get super corny at this point, extremely sentimental and cliche. But you have to admit that it is true what is said: being a parent is one of the most amazing things that I will ever be able to experience. And as fast as life is moving, I am truly happy to be along for the ride.


Also, in case you weren't aware: