Can I be real with you for a moment?
I love my vocation as a mom, a wife, a Christian Catholic. I really, really do. But it's hard. I mean really, really hard. Sometimes I get depressed, frustrated, lonely. Lonely? Yeah. You'd be surprised at how easy it can be to get lonely when you're days are surrounded by sticky, busy, noisey, precious, beautiful little people. Motherhood is a vocation of giving. Constant, selfless giving. You find pockets in your soul that you never even knew existed beforeyou became a mother. Motherhood shapes your whole being, ready or not. You must nourish your soul, lean on your faith, and pray like your life depended on it ('cause it does).
So, back to my heroic stamina and how I cook "all day long" (cough, cough).
I don't know if you've ever noticed, but right around 4:30 or 5:00pm, children tend to get a little crazy. A little? Okay, a lot. Funny thing is...that's, inconveniently, the same time that we all head to the kitchen to get dinner going. Ready or not
I found myself totally resenting dinnertime and may or may not have fed the boys cheese, cracker, and pepperoni "sandwiches" for dinner because the thought of trying to cook another meal with the baby screaming on my hip and the boys going crazy in the living room made me want to plum throw myself a temper tantrum.
My solution: I cook whenever I can.
I can often be found fixing dinner in the kitchen around 10:30 am. It's the calmest part of my day. The boys have had breakfast and their morning snack and Margaux goes down for her morning nap. I get dinner ready and I stick it in the fridge. That way, all I have to do is the last minute stuff during the "witching hour" later on. Then maybe I'll get a salad ready while the boys eat lunch. You get the idea. It eliminates a lot of stress. And best of all....we actually get a meal for dinner. Not cheese and crackers.
What are your tricks and tips for getting dinner on the table during the chaos of a busy family's afternoon? Please share!
Here's a picture of us on Sunday at Margaux's baptism. It was a very special and very beautiful day!
This post is also featured at:
I love your honesty here, and I love the title of your blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your sweet comment on my article at Raising Homemakers!
♥Joy
Found your blog through Raising Homemakers. I'm so glad to have found another Catholic Mom's blog :-) I have to tell you, my poodle's name is Margo :-) If we had another daughter, that would have been her name, but since we didn't and I loved the name, it's my sweet dog's name. Stop by my blog when you can and visit. www.crazyforthecountry.com
ReplyDeleteI've done this too. It doesn't hurt once in a while.
ReplyDeleteI use my slow cooker quite a lot. I prepare the meal in the morning - one of our favourites is chorizo and kale stew - and it is ready to serve by the evening. Today I had a bacon joint slowly simmering all day and it smelled bloomin' lovely. Then as I was cooking the vegetables, the kitchen ceiling collapsed. So I had to abandon my lovely dinner and take the kids out for fish and chips! Oh well. Bacon sandwiches for tomorrow!