20 Minutes
I think Rachel Jankovic and I should have coffee....and talk motherhood. Right now. Who says motherhood and fashion don't mix? Olive and I have had 3 wardrobe changes before noon together today! One blowout diaper, one grab of my butternut squash soup (all over me, her, the carpet.....) and one major series of spit up (not too fond of walking around smelling like puke for the morning) are all it takes to continue keeping it fresh with my fashion today. Ahhh. All while Robby wants more perfectly squared off peanut butter and honey sandwiches, which I said I would do. Sometimes I am just keeping my head above water. Some call it "coping." Rachel, in Loving the Little Years notes:
"Instead of spending time telling yourself stories in which you are given too much to do, come up with some simple coping tactics. In that same early and intense phase with the twins, I developed the twenty-minute rule. If things started seeming really out of control, I would look at the clock and note the time. Then I would tell myself in twenty minutes this would be over.
If I just kept my head down and did the work, twenty minutes was all I needed. And actually, it was true. Twenty minutes is enough time (f you are moving quick and not moping) to change three diapers and one complete outfit, spank one disobeyer, tuck two people into naps and sit down to nurse the other two. The storm would have passed in twenty minutes if I was cheerfully getting things done. But that moment when you first discoverd the blowout, and then the two year old hit the one year old (who is now having a nap time meltdown with a dirty diaper) and both of the babies were mad because you were in the car when they decided it was lunchtime, and now 30 minutes later you still haven't nursed them, but first you've got to change the whole outfit and maybe can't find the clothes...well, that moment. What was it ? A moment. It passed. But when it passes, all you did was work right through it. No self-pity, no tears, no getting worked into a tither......super intensity will almost always be over in twenty minutes!"
I think my biggest problem is when my work ethic and my self pity collide. Almost always my self pity wins. But I have a fresh new hope to conquer that and truly embrace my "Work at Home" Mom status. Yes, work hard through it for 20 minutes and so far, it does pass into a moment. I have a pretty strong work ethic, for excellence and efficiency. I am not into my self pity trumping that.
Who me? A soup grabber? A blow-out your pants girl? Never.
