Hmmm... Pregnant day

I think today was a definite pregnant day.  I have to admit I don't feel like I did anything hard.  In fact, I think the hardest thing I did was to try and stay awake while I read 2 Curious George books to the kids.  I know there were a few long pauses and I think I crashed for a few min afterwards.  Luckily the youngest was napping and the other two decided to finish coloring pictures. 

I did get a load of laundry done!  It was essential since underwear is needed tomorrow...  I guess I should give myself credit for that and feeding the kids even if my wonderful husband did clean up after it all.  I'm not doing well with food right now so I admit I kinda left it for him.  He's amazing like that!  So although I didn't push myself to do anything hard I did function and take care of some things so I guess it wasn't all bad right? :)

The phone call

Today I actually called a Dr's office on my own, set up an appointment and went.  In a way I'm glad it happened quickly so I didn't have time for nerves to set in with the whole language barrier.  It might not seem big but I've even had people hang up on me when I've tried to communicate in English or even attempt their language.  So this was a first for me!  I'm pretty sure my husband is a bit proud too.  An exhausting but good day!

No phone

I hate to admit it but I have this tendency to pick up the phone when my kids are driving me really crazy and check my email or something to escape the situation.  Today I decided that I was not going to use my phone for anything but phone type stuff... You know the thing phones were originally used for, contacting people.  I'm actually quite happy to say that I did pretty well.  I made it the whole day without using it.  The funny thing is, I think I was less frustrated today as well.  I'm not sure if those are connected but I think I'm going to try and keep this up.  I felt a little more present and had more fun with my kids today than I usually do.  I hope on those crazy hard days it's as easy to achieve this goal.  It probably won't be but I think the results will be just as worth it! 

Hard things

I think being a mom/stay at home mom is the hardest job on the planet.  It is at times the most rewarding, but most days are just long or hard or both.  It's so easy to get stuck in the never ending list of things to do and feel like you haven't gotten anything done.  To get so discouraged that you just give up or really, really want to.

Maybe that's why wives are known for To Do Lists for their husbands.  What the husband doesn't realize is, that in the wife's head, there is a list a hundred times longer and she's feeling swamped under the pressure.  A list so long she can't even write it all down.  That list she gives to her husband is sometimes an attempt and keeping her head above water so she doesn't give up entirely.  The thought that maybe he can do one or two things that will allow her to do one of the other million things on the list before her.

This blog isn't about husbands and wanting them to do more.  It's about me, a mom who is just trying to keep afloat and not feel like I'm going half crazy in the process.  A few random facts that will probably help any random person who stumbles across this know what's going on here...

I'm a mom to 3 of the most beautiful babies in the whole world and wife to the most wonderful and amazing man that ever existed! I couldn't survive with out him in my life!

We are expecting the 4th in May if all goes well, and at that point I'll have 4 kids under 6... Did I mention I'm just a tiny bit crazy?  We are excited to have this last one!

I live in Europe and don't really speak the language of this country, so life gets a bit complicated most of the time.  Fortunately, my husband has spoken it his whole life (he grew up bilingual) and he is amazing with to do lists.  In all fairness I did move here when my first was 7-8 months old and I've been pretty busy ever since I got here with the wee ones.  I will be working on the language thing though.  Especially since my kids are getting harder to understand with my slowly expanding vocabulary that just can't keep up with their quick little brains.

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or a Mormon.  It will probably explain a few things around here.

I'm creating this blog to help me do hard things each and every day.  To push myself to do more than I am and to help me see the smallest and simplest things I do and how important they are when I do them.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't going to be some amazing blog with all sorts of amazing things on it.  In fact it's going to be quite the opposite.  I'm here to document all those crazy little things that I overlook that are on most days hard for me to do and to push myself to do more of them.  Like today, I mopped the kitchen floor for the first time in over a month!  Yup, it's been that long!  The hardest part was...I know you are dying to find out... I had the 2 older kiddos help and we all survived the experience and it was actually kinda fun. This might come as a shock but that has never happened before.  I usually just do it on my own because it's just easier.  Yeah, it was hard...  So you see what I mean.  This isn't going to be glorious or anything and it's mostly for me.  I'm going to try and post every day because my goal is to do something hard every day.  It might be a bit tedious too because the same things are going to be hard time and time again but hopefully my crazy personality mentioned above will make it a bit more bearable if anyone decides to read this.  

So there you have it.  The start of a blog about the smallest and simplest things a mom might be doing...  I hope I'm ready for this...