Confessions of a Busy Housewife

Tonight I feel the need to tell the truth. Over the weekend I had a self discovery. I actually found it pretty surprising-I had never thought I would feel this way. I find myself a fairly easy going Mom. I try to give my two-year-old free (but supervised) reign to discover things and have fun so when I found out my self discovery I was shocked, a little embarrassed to admit it right away, and quick to fix it.

You see, I HATE mud. Hate, hate, hate, hate it. I am watching Cooper play outside today and he got a badminton racket and swung it in mud splashing it all over himself. I ran out telling him no just in time to stop myself from having to get him because I would have to step in mud (gross). So instead I went inside to run him bath water and then returned to get him-making him come to me. He of course had covered himself even more in mud and was not happy to leave his mud puddle and enter a bath (too bad so sad for him because I'm the Mom!).

After getting him cleaned up I realized I now had a pile of muddy clothes to wash and a pair of muddy shoes. So I picked them up with my skin crawling...it turns out I also hate touching mud/dirt. I threw everything in a dirty clothes bag and decided to deal with it when we got home.

Now before everyone thinks I just hate mud because I'm from the "city" (a joke to people who have lived in bigger cities) I would like to clear up that I use to play in mud. Becca and I were quite the outside chefs growing up whipping up mud pies all the time. As a child I had no qualms about playing in mud and dirt (and luckily it didn't phase my mom). So why now? I guess because now it is just another mess I have to clean. An extra bath Cooper needs. Floors that need sweeping sooner because dirt got on them. Clothes that can't wait to be washed. And I'm not a big fan of getting dirty and all Moms know if your child is muddy it's only a matter of time before you are muddy.

So tonight when we got home (Mudgate 2010 had occurred in Andalusia) I dumped all the clothes out from the weekend ready to tackle the yucky muddy, wet, and dirty clothes. I sprayed Shout on them and threw them into the washing machine, praying all the mud would get out of Cooper's favorite jacket. I then turned and began sorting mine, John, and Jaylyn's clothes. That is when I noticed Jaylyn's clothes. None of the pants needed Shout sprayed on them and all of her shirts were stain free. Yet Jaylyn had been playing in the same yard, just a few feet from Cooper.

I called John in to show him Jaylyn's clothes and in that moment I wasn't sure what was worse. The fact that I am going to have to deal I'm sure with about a hundred more muddy messes that Cooper will make, or that Jaylyn is getting so old you can no longer tell she even played outside.

So I guess I am going to have to learn how to accept mud and dirt. I'm sure the day will come Cooper will want me playing out there with him...which I might as long as I can wear my gardening gloves:-).