Parenting is Easy . . . If You Have Nothing Else to DO!

What do I mean when I say I’m a Believer in Balance? Hmmm. Good question. Thank you. See what happens when you work at home by yourself. You start talking to yourself. I often bounce ideas off of Super Pooper, but she’s indisposed at the moment.
Is that the word I mean? Let me look it up. That word has been around since at least 1988, so let me see what my dictionary says. It says indisposed means “slightly ill.” Nope. That’s not what I meant. The little cutie is just taking a nap. Anyway, where was I? You were about to tell them what you mean by Believer in Balance. Oh, yeah, thanks for the reminder. You’re welcome.

The concept is not new. All work and no play, etc. etc. You’ve heard it all before. Yin Yang (not to be confused with Yuengling, which if you drink enough will throw off your balance!) Great taste . . .less filling. How did I get on this beer kick? Between my recent pregnancy and now nursing, the taste of beer is barely a distant memory. Anyway, I believe maintaining balance in my life keeps me happy. How do I do that? I drink a lot of beer. Just kidding.

I try to balance work and play. And when I say play, I mean it literally. (My kids have more of a social life than I do!) Instead of continuing to putz around (although putz is not in the dictionary, yes I checked, I think all moms know what I mean) checking things off my eternal list, I force myself out of productive mode after awhile and sit down to play with my girls. It takes some mental nudging on my part because it is soooooooooooooooooo tempting to keep cranking and getting things done when they’re busy playing by themselves, but while my list will never end, I know there will come a time when they don’t want to play with mommy anymore. I tear just thinking about that and this is supposed to be me explaining how I try to stay happy! What I’m trying to say is that I know I don’t like the feeling I get at the end of the day when I’ve been too busy trying to get stuff done and haven’t spent time just being with my kids. I love just hanging out with them.
So, stopping to play Old Maid makes me feel better than getting everything done I wanted to. I often joke that parenting is easy, if you have nothing else to do. Like sleeping, eating, going to the bathroom, let alone trying to work from home! It’s finding a way to get things crossed off “the list” while taking time to be present to my kids that makes parenting hard . . . that and potty training. God, I hate that!

So, there you have it. That’s why I’m a Believer in Balance. What? Did you say something?