sahm-survival-guide-blog

[sahm-survival-guide-blog]

An Introduction

While sitting on the bathroom floor while my kids play in the bath, I was scrolling through Instagram and its endless stream of perfect moms. You know the ones I’m talking about. All their pictures have the same grey or beige color scheme with occasional pops of navy blue and baby pink, maybe some gold. Or the same lighting and filters. Every picture is perfectly posed in a color-coordinated, perfectly spotless house. Their walls, couch, and bedspread are probably white. Their kids toys are always neat, but if they’re in frame, rest assured they’re all wooden and open ended. You’ll never see obnoxious red plastic, Barbies, or Hot Wheels. Sure, these accounts are aesthetically pleasing. But it’s a load of crap! If you can keep up that kind of appearance, more power to you. But what about those of us that can’t? Where’s our Instagram accounts? I know I’m not the only one that can’t relate to those moms. My kids wear bright, fun colors with their favorite characters on them, our house is cluttered and mismatched, and their Mickey Mouse toys and tablets (gasp!!) are strewn everywhere. Instagram doesn’t show it, but I can’t help but feel moms like myself are in the majority. Most of us DON’T have it together like that, and that’s ok! It’s ok to leave the living room and mess in favor of collapsing in bed. It’s ok to dress your kids in striped shirts with polka dotted shorts and mismatched socks because you need to do laundry. You’re not a bad mom because you gave in and let your toddler have ice cream an hour before dinner because you didn’t have the energy to put up with a tantrum, and figured 1 ruined dinner isn’t the end of the world. You’re not a bad mom. Period. So here’s to us good moms that can’t keep up a neutral Instagram aesthetic. We’re here, we’re realistic, and we need some acknowledgement too!

The name of this blog stems from my feelings lately as a stay at home mom for the past 2, almost 2 and a half, years. It’s a lonely gig, being a mom. I had my first baby at 21 and my 2nd at 22, so none of my friends had kids, or were even considering it. I was, and still am, alone. I moved to be with my boyfriend, and that distanced, combined with lack of childcare and a breastfed, bottle refusing baby, meant I didn’t have many chances to see friends. Eventually I lost all of them. Some friends dropped me faster than others, but all eventually stopped talking to me at some point. I’m also pretty awful at making new friends. I struggled to find local mom groups, and the only one I did find just wasn’t for me. So aside from online communities, I’ve been pretty isolated in my journey as a mom. I created this tumblr (and Instagram, but I haven’t used it yet) as a way to connect with other moms feeling like they’re in this alone, and hopefully create a sense of community. No one should feel alone. Everyone should have at least 1 other person to relate to. Hopefully I can be that person!

A little about myself. I’m 23 and like I said above, I have 2 kids. They’re only a mere 16 months apart, which has come with a fair set of challenges, but every difficulty is well worth it. My babies are best friends, and I absolutely adore seeing them interact with each other. Aside from my life as a mom, I don’t have much to talk about. My world has revolved around them since I got my first positive pregnancy test 3 years ago. I stopped going to school, I stopped working, and as I said above, I stopped seeing friends. This blog is an attempt at reclaiming some of who I am outside of motherhood. I used to love to write, though I’m admittedly not talented, and I want to begin doing things I enjoy once again. I recently started taking a class, and I’ll add a second class in October. I have a DSLR camera that I want to learn how to use as well. It doesn’t deserve to be kept on automatic all the time! I honestly have no idea the extent I’ll keep up with this blog, but its worth a shot, right?

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