On Bathing

Does everyone's kids try to drink the bath water? Do other people's children get into spitting fights in the tub? If I wash their hair and brush their teeth in the tub, is it really necessary to soap them up and wash? Do other parents value 30-45 minutes of no-fight time by just putting the kids in the tub and sitting on the floor and letting them play with/in the water? Do all boys hit the point where it is fun to pretend they are peeing while you try to dry them? Do all kids fight moisturizer (I've surcum to telling them that superheros use olive oil, so now they do as well.)? Do other parents let their kids wear swim goggles in the tub?

I've been down lately. There are good things going on - i.e., the PhartEphant review, and a few more coming. I'm off to LA with Norman to be in a gift suite for the MTV Movie Awards! Yeah! But I get overwhelmed by trying to keep the vision of how to create the two businesses up, enjoy family time, let alone any free time with my husband, when faced with less than opptimistic economic environment. I love the boys dearly, but parenting is hard when you are stressed about income, taking care of their education, their personal growth, their future, when you are still wondering about your own. My parenting persona is on edge at the moment. So I've been editing my posts; I've been too down to be honest.

But as I let the boys become wrinkly in the tub tonight, I felt the spark. It is always there, the spark that says this too shall pass! Don't stop believing, or even stop day dreaming! Sometimes it is just so burried I worry it is gone, this spark. But nope, I still have lots of ideas about what I want to do, what I want to become. Frankly, parenting is a temporary calling, I'm motivated to many more things than just taking care of the boys. This realization is always an interesting pill to swallow, as there are too many pundents that telling moms that being "mom" is the most important thing you'll ever do and you'll "love" every minute of it. It just isn't true for me. Not the last couple weeks.

Usually, finding my center includes shutting out the press/news. For example, all we hear about is the swine flu, which has killed maybe 100 in Mexico (the numbers keep falling) and no one in the US. Yet, we don't hear NOTHING about the regular old flu, the one that has already killed >10,000 in the US this year. Yeah, the press/news likes fear, the machine forgets we need to plug through real life without adding on the fears of the unusual/ the less likely. This includes the dismal discussion of the economy as I try to launch two businesses.

As imperfect as we all are (speaking of my family), we are here together for a reason. We can make it happen. And I've decided they don't need soap from head to toe daily.