So, I really do have a love/hate relationship with this blog. I love, love sharing hilarious real stories about parenting and life. Some of my blog posts are a home run (or at least I think so) and some just aren’t. The ones that aren’t I end up keeping in my draft folder. I often think, “that’s too personal” or “that just isn’t funny.” So, they sit.
For a second while I was still working in news I thought to myself, hot dog! If I could legit just sit on my booty and write all day long I would be the happiest soul on the planet. So I started following a gazillion mom blogs to find inspiration and to find the missing link into what they weren’t doing. But I found myself really frustrated and annoyed.
I think my tipping point was when I read a blog post from a mom who was calling out other mothers for letting their only child hog up the grocery store double carts…AKA, “the red car” my son is so stalkerishly obsessed with. This blog post was mean and rude. Basically, how dare you let your only child have any fun. Trust me, if there are no double strollers I get a little steam in my ears too as I try to explain to my 2-year-old all the cars are in the repair shop and then he sees one roll by. But this post was different, there was no sympathy. I am an only child. I don’t think we had grocery store car carts growing up, but if we did and I wanted one…by God, my mom would have ABSOLUTELY let me sit in one if it was available. Why punish a kid for not having a sibling? This is such a petty thing to get upset with…but I’m trying to prove my point.
Moms are SO HARD on other moms. They can be incredibly judgmental, and I don’t want to ever be viewed as that and I really don’t want to be judged. Being a mom is so difficult. Let me give you a small example: I was going to NOLA for my cousin’s bachelorette party last week. Since we are in the process of moving, I can’t find any clothes. So my plan was to pack. That’s it. Just pack my clothes and make sure my children were alive at 5 pm when my husband returned. By 9 am I had changed 4 diapers (2 with a gas mask), prepared 2 different breakfasts, fed the dogs, played referee over who can “do the dishes”, fixed a tractor, put one child in timeout twice, looked for Thomas the Train for 30 minutes only to have said child play with it for 30 seconds, partially brushed my teeth…and then I literally hid out in the bathroom, as both children beat down the door and probably tried to set the whole damn house on fire. PARENTING. IS. HARD.
We really don’t need other parents looking through our windows with their white wigs judging what we do and don’t do. So I decided to stop blogging for a bit.
Then last night, through the power of social media, I wrote a really simple thank you to my Facebook fans who followed my Anchor/Reporter page. I was blown away. It’s been 6 months since I left news and no one un-followed. In fact, I gained some followers. Weird, right? So I thanked them for caring and one person wrote this: “You tell better life stories….so I’m not leaving…..enjoy them kids while you can…tomorrow they will be grown.” And I thought, you know? What the heck?! Let’s give this blog a go again. I don’t have any excuses not to. Some entries will be great, some won’t…but people will hopefully continue to stick around.
I’d like to open this blog up to YOUR stories too! Do any of you have a hilarious/heartbreaking parenting experiences? Or a day when you legit wanted to pour a glass of wine at 8:45 am, throw your hands up, and say Jesus take the wheel!? I want to hear it!! Share away, we can keep it anonymous if you’re not ready for the white wigs. Lemme know.
Meanwhile, next up on this blog: I will share with you a tale of 48 days living in a hotel with 4 adults, 2 children and 4 dogs. Jesus Take The Wheel, indeed…
Jane Beasley
August 26, 2015 at 9:46 amLove you! Love your blog! Keep it up!
Shanisty
August 26, 2015 at 10:57 amThank you Jane! Means a lot.
Colleen
August 26, 2015 at 10:01 amAs I’m reading this my almost 3 y/o has found a new way to call for me, one I have been dreading, “Mom, MOM, MOMMA, mom, mom , mom, MOOOOOOM, Momma…” Dear lord child I want 2 minutes to myself. In the course of 1.5 hours I have made your breakfast, woke you up (bfast needs to be ready to go to avoid unpleasantness), changed your diaper (btw-potty training!?! PLEASE sweet girl!), fed the dogs, cleaned up the carpet the puppy shredded, vacuumed the house, turned on sesame street so I can do some work, and somewhere in there I got to take care of myself too.
Now my sweet girl has found me and wants to play. I’m currently being “tickled” and now I need to go b/c the vacuum attachment is being used as a megaphone… eww.
oh, and I can smell that the next diaper is due…
Keep on mothering! lol
Shanisty
August 26, 2015 at 10:58 amokay, seriously…in tears laughing!! My personal favorite…. being “tickled” and the new megaphone. Hysterical! Yes, keep on mothering…and keep on sharing these stories. It is so comforting that we are not alone 🙂
Jayme
August 26, 2015 at 10:53 amI completely understand where you’re coming from. There’s so many things I want to blog about but then I find myself censoring it to some degree, fearful of what others will think. Ridiculous I know. Because at the end of the day, these are my stories of survival and I need to be able to look back and laugh at my life with a threenager and baby. I mean come on, now I can laugh about how Mason purposely locked me in the chicken coop and ran away laughing…
All this to say, I get so much enjoyment from reading your blog! Thanks for sharing! Life has definitely shifted since our freshman year!
Shanisty
August 26, 2015 at 11:00 amAhhhh…Jayme! You should blog on. I so enjoy your FB posts and pics on Insta. Who gives a rip what others say…as I previously said…let’s all remove our white wigs and parent on! Thanks for your kind words 🙂
jaymeamber
August 26, 2015 at 11:02 amI completely understand, there’s so many stories that I would like to share on my blog but then I start censoring what and how I would say things to keep the judging to a minimum and the final product is adding nothing to the blog. Ridiculous I know. I just need to share these stories of survival (because life with a threenager and baby) so maybe I can look back and laugh. I mean come on, now I can find humor that Mason purposely locked me in the chicken coop and ran away laughing…
All that to say, I enjoy reading your posts! Who knew what lives would look like back freshman year…what a change!!
jaymeamber
August 26, 2015 at 11:03 amSo I commented twice because I didn’t think my first one went…sorry. LOL
Kelly Conley
August 26, 2015 at 3:10 pmOh Shanisty you’ve hit the nail on the head as usual ! First the mommy judgement might be harder than what we went through as teen girls! I mean really ladies – do really want to do that to one another! My biggest pet peeve of motherhood wars is lack of ownership! Own up that no one is perfect; we are all going through the journey a little blind! And ya know what ? It takes a village in my world and that village must include supportive women! In my world 7 pm is chaos!!! 3 children under 2.5 taking baths, getting pjs on ( picked out by my lovely 2 year old), feeding two babies and reading every Dora book in the world… And that sounds pretty bland, but I assure you crazy things happen like babies pooping in the tub, or screaming from a two year old who wants to eat the toothpaste instead of use it!!!
Keep writing Shan! It’s so nice knowing that there are REAL moms out there!
Shanisty
August 27, 2015 at 2:08 pmI love you Kelly!!! Have I told you that lately? Since we are back in Ohio, we MUST meet up. We can support each other without white wigs and laugh it out…because if we don’t, honestly we really will go insane. Oh, and you totally hit the nail on the head with the mommy wars…it legit is harder than in high school. Thanks social media 😉