For Reals.

I.am.rebellling. Against all the social media perfection. Against all those completing the perfect Pinterest projects. Against all those with the ‘charmed’ life. Perfect homes, perfect families, perfect vacations, perfect finances, perfect relationships. I am sure it is not a grand idea to start a blog with a negative, but I did.

I am a wife and mother. A real one. The one that gets an idea like “let’s go see Santa!” and thinks that ‘we will all get dressed, buckle in the car, drive to Santa, sit on his lap with some kids screaming, but that‘s the best Santa picture, go see Christmas lights and come home to bed’ mom. But the one who ‘accidentally stabs her daughter in the eye with her fingernail while brushing daughter’s hair and listens to the ensuing screams, making impromptu ice packs, because we can never leave the house without a crisis’ mom. The one that ‘forces all her kids to wear a Christmas themed shirt that is either a hand me down, or somehow found it in their closet and pair it with jeans’ mom. The one who ‘bribes her eight year old to ride in the car in exchange for Pokemon cards and then has said eight year old asking to go to Walmart at 6 am the next morning and every 15 min thereafter until said mom convinces husband he gets the better end of the deal to go to Walmart with 2 of 5 children and said mom stays home to lounge on the couch while baby naps and toddlers are occupied with iPads’ mom. The one whose ‘three year old screams at the top of his lungs for you to stop talking when you are not talking for 90% of the light viewing experience but insists we will enjoy this moment’ mom.  The one who has a disastrous house, over flowing laundry baskets, un-wavering amounts of dishes, uses television to occupy kids for a moment or three of silence and decides to check Facebook instead’ mom. The one who ‘budgets every penny of every paycheck, but always forgets something so uses the ‘emergency fund’ as the ‘poor planning fund’’ mom.

I know I am not the only ‘real mom.’ How many of us have the same kind of life while secretly envying those who seem to have their {enter preferred expletive here} together? Let’s be real.

I am momma to 5 beautiful {in heart and soul} children, who works 30 hours a week in my career choice, 182737463282 hours a week in my motherhood choice, 3-4 hours a week in my wife choice and 0.5 hours in myself {more on finding that balance later}. My pictures are imperfect and my kids are basically little tantrum thrower beings {who constantly have me wondering if it is me or them who is bipolar}, but my heart is exploding with gratitude for the amount of blessings I have been showered with.

I start my mornings with Yoga {when I can find the strength to wake up at 4:30 AM and pray that my children do not follow suit}, Jesus {even if for a moment of prayer to ask for my heart to be properly aligned}, and coffee {sacrilegious to start a day without a cup o‘ Joe}.

If I have managed to keep you until this point, I hope you will join me on my real journey. Keepin’ it real talkin’ about the people who keep me going.