A few months back a friend introduced me to a yard sale page on Facebook, and ever since then I have been on the hunt for the perfect dresser for my bedroom. We have refinished two dressers so I thought to myself, "self, you have some pretty dang good skills and you can make any dresser look like it came from Restoration Hardware!" This is false. All the dressers I have refinished had only happened because of major assistance from people who actually have skills (my parents and Rhett's mom). However, I put aside all logic and reason and I tell myself I can do anything! So we found the perfect dresser last week with gorgeous details, 9 drawers, wide and not tall! It was everything I dreamed of. I decided to be more adventurous and stain it for a more classic look (our previous refinishing projects were painted).
I gather all my supplies and researched everything there is to know on Pinterest about how to stain it perfectly, and got to work. Well turns out stripper doesn't really like the cold and makes it SUPER hard to strip. Like seriously no progress after several hours. So we decide to move it into the basement and blast it with a space heater. I had HUGE success with this small adjustment--stripped the whole top in an hour and then completed another side. I decided I wanted to tackle a drawer. The drawers had a ton of detailing so I was nervous about how to get the stripper off without being able to use a scraper.
Now is the time that I should mention that I made all this progress one morning while my kids were "playing" I called my favorite babysitter--Daniel Tiger, and got to work. Everything was perfect. I got those two sides finished and put stripper on the drawers. I come upstairs to happy kids and I am like WHO IS BOSS?! ME! So I feed them lunch and put them down for naps.
This is NOT normal. I am not the mom who tackles projects, especially while my kids are awake. I am not even the mom who attempts projects alone. Don't worry things will return to normal in a few.
I clean up the top and the side and they look amazing. I tell myself I should sand them and wait for the drawers to set a little bit longer. Well I jumped the gun and wanted to see how easy the varnish and stain came off without a scraper. I was definitely overly optimistic about this outcome. the varnish came off with a GREAT deal of scruibbing and brushing. I was beginning to get discouraged, so I added more stripper and waited a little longer. I saw bubbling--bubbling is good! I began brushing ferociously and saw the color was coming up!! I was so excited until I realized the color was coming off of a plastic/veneer fake wood. NOOOOOO. Turns out you can still stain this crap. But I am SOO MAD guys. SO mad. This just adds another level of difficulty and uncertainty to the project. So basically right as I reach the height of pissed fury, James comes down the stairs to announce that he is awake.
He had been "napping" for less than an hour so I called his bluff. I was goobed up with stain and told him to wait at the top of the stairs. He did not wait. He had to inform me that he was a ghost and came bursting downstairs touching EVERYTHING! stripper on his baby hands and messing up my stuff. Not okay. I drag him up the stairs and say, "stay there, I'll be right up!" Next thing I know he is screaming at the top of his lungs that he can't find his blanket. I try to hurry and hush him because he brother was still sleeping. Too late. He was screaming from baby Will's door, because he was convinced the blanket was with him. It wasn't. It was literally next to him on the floor.
So now William is awake, James is "awake" and my beautiful project dresser is really just turning into a project. I bring all the babies downstairs and return to the basement to clean up. James comes down crying because he peed on the kitchen floor and "Baby Wow wants to get my pee!"
This is normal.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Pinches and Popsicles
This morning guys, man was it an inspiration for this blog. We actually got to sleep in a bit this morning. James wanted snuggles in bed, which almost never happens, so I was all for it! After snuggles we went downstairs for breakfast. James had cereal, I got my workout clothes on and then William got up and had some cereal too. Shaping up to be a pretty good day, Mid-workout William decides he is done, so I go take him out and he proceeds to head for the stairs. I tell James to go shut the bathroom door so William won't get in the toilet--problem averted! Well next thing I hear William screaming bloody murder. I head to the top of the stairs to find him with his thumb stuck in the crack of the laundry closet doors. It was completely shut in there and he, being a dumb baby, was leaning against the door putting it in there even tighter! I got him out and after some cold water he seemed good-ish.
By this point James has finished his cereal and moved on to a popsicle. Cause you know, who doesn't want a popsicle at 9:30 in the morning. So I finish my workout with William screaming at me to hold him and James yelling at me that he needs another popsicle.
I tell James no more popsicles and he's crying and whining and making William even more flustered and sad. I keep saying no popsicles and he says "I'll get it myself." So he pushes up a chair and I tell him if you get anymore I will throw them in the trash. He says ok and points to his wrapper from earlier and says "throw it in the trash!" So I try again to explain "if you touch those popsicles I will take the box from you and they will be in the trash all gone. You understand?!" He says, "yes I want to stand" I realize this is hilarious that he would say that, but at the time I could've hit something.
I decide William needed an early nap so I head up stairs in the hopes that James will leave us be trying to get a popsicle by his-self! I nurse William and he finally calms down. I am rocking him and he is nearly asleep when James bursts through the door and says, "Where is my BA!?" Ba is his blanket. I tell him where it is and he leaves to find it. He comes back, and wants to sit with us and I tell him no because William needs to sleep. I rocked him until he finally settled down again. I head downstairs and James has the whole box of popsicles. So guess what? I let him have one. That's right-two popsicles before 11 AM. I am not sure what is worse though, the two popsicles or the two hours of the ipad he watched during all of this. This is normal.
By this point James has finished his cereal and moved on to a popsicle. Cause you know, who doesn't want a popsicle at 9:30 in the morning. So I finish my workout with William screaming at me to hold him and James yelling at me that he needs another popsicle.
I tell James no more popsicles and he's crying and whining and making William even more flustered and sad. I keep saying no popsicles and he says "I'll get it myself." So he pushes up a chair and I tell him if you get anymore I will throw them in the trash. He says ok and points to his wrapper from earlier and says "throw it in the trash!" So I try again to explain "if you touch those popsicles I will take the box from you and they will be in the trash all gone. You understand?!" He says, "yes I want to stand" I realize this is hilarious that he would say that, but at the time I could've hit something.
I decide William needed an early nap so I head up stairs in the hopes that James will leave us be trying to get a popsicle by his-self! I nurse William and he finally calms down. I am rocking him and he is nearly asleep when James bursts through the door and says, "Where is my BA!?" Ba is his blanket. I tell him where it is and he leaves to find it. He comes back, and wants to sit with us and I tell him no because William needs to sleep. I rocked him until he finally settled down again. I head downstairs and James has the whole box of popsicles. So guess what? I let him have one. That's right-two popsicles before 11 AM. I am not sure what is worse though, the two popsicles or the two hours of the ipad he watched during all of this. This is normal.
This is Normal
So I have been thinking for a while now that the social media world is filled with too much "perfection". All these bloggers I follow on Instagram with their perfect hair, perfect bodies, perfect children, perfect homes...I am sick of it. I wish they would just give me a glimpse of their unmade bed or their kid wearing his pants backwards. I know they are only posting the best of the best, I know they don't show you the messy parts of their house, and they don't tell you about their maid, or their personal stylist, I know! I get it, but those pictures can still be enough to make me feel pretty crappy about myself. Because their "normal" is not even a small resemblance of my normal.
I've talked with my mom about this on several occasions. Before social media there was no pressure to be the "fun mom" there was no comparison to be made about how clean your house was or how big your thigh gap was. You just raised your kids. I envy that. I know I can't possibly be the only one who has carried around guilt about how long my kid has sat in front of the TV, or how I how messy my floor is, or the pile of laundry that is growing....not to mention my inability to shower before 2 PM.
In the last few months I have come to terms with the imperfection that is in my home. I am trying to carry around less guilt, because frankly I have more important things to worry about than how I smell. My kids are happy, healthy, and they love me even when I don't shower. My house isn't always clean, and my hair isn't always done, BUT we are happy. It is enough.
So here I am deciding that we could all use a little more normal. The kind of normal that when I put #momlife it is more to the tune of poop running down my leg than "I just rolled out of bed and made vegan, organic pancakes in my sexy pajamas".
I want to put out there the idea that as moms we are enough. Messes and all, we are enough. So I plan on sharing bits and pieces of the Wimmer crazy with you all to show you just how normal we are. This is a blog where you can always find comfort. No guilt, no shame, no perfection. Because every mom deserves to have a shiz day and know that there are other moms out there having a shiz day too. This is normal.
I've talked with my mom about this on several occasions. Before social media there was no pressure to be the "fun mom" there was no comparison to be made about how clean your house was or how big your thigh gap was. You just raised your kids. I envy that. I know I can't possibly be the only one who has carried around guilt about how long my kid has sat in front of the TV, or how I how messy my floor is, or the pile of laundry that is growing....not to mention my inability to shower before 2 PM.
In the last few months I have come to terms with the imperfection that is in my home. I am trying to carry around less guilt, because frankly I have more important things to worry about than how I smell. My kids are happy, healthy, and they love me even when I don't shower. My house isn't always clean, and my hair isn't always done, BUT we are happy. It is enough.
So here I am deciding that we could all use a little more normal. The kind of normal that when I put #momlife it is more to the tune of poop running down my leg than "I just rolled out of bed and made vegan, organic pancakes in my sexy pajamas".
I want to put out there the idea that as moms we are enough. Messes and all, we are enough. So I plan on sharing bits and pieces of the Wimmer crazy with you all to show you just how normal we are. This is a blog where you can always find comfort. No guilt, no shame, no perfection. Because every mom deserves to have a shiz day and know that there are other moms out there having a shiz day too. This is normal.
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