So, I think I’m asked at least a dozen times a week, “How do you do it?” {Read: How do you survive?}
Depending on the amount of caffeine {and grace} I’m filled with that day, my answers vary. But in reality, I figure I’d create this public blog so that you can hear my narrative of living, surviving, and thriving as a MommyGladiator who has her own tribe of 6 kids on earth, and one little interceding prayer warrior up in Heaven.
Why start this up today? Well, today, I’ve encountered my potty training (please read: failing to be trained) threenager, a nap-protesting 19 month-old, my 4, 5 and 7 year-old sons “war on each other day”, and my almost-8 year-old explaining to me that I only have 10 years with her left until she leaves for college or a convent, she’s “still figuring how she can be a horse doctor-missionary-orphanage mother of at least 20 kids”.
To be honest, this blog was something that, after years of people telling me how great it would be to hear more about my daily grind as a stay-at-home/homeschooling parent/working outside-the-home-without-using-daycare mother-of-many-kids, I said “If you really want to know what it’s like to live in my house, I’ll share with you the joy, the grit, the frustrations, the FUN/CRAZY/BEAUTIFUL/AWESOMENESS but in all regards, I’ll share with you the REALNESS of our lives…”
Why call the blog name #mommygladiator? Six years ago, I had my newborn strapped in a Bjorn, my 1 year-old crying on my hip because he needed a new bottle, and my 2 year-old-“Hoodini” who was crying at my feet because I had just changed her diaper, when a friend texted me to see how my day was going; my response, “Oh you know, I’m being a mommy-gladiator of diapers, bottles, and sleepless nights. It’s my daily grind.” Ever since then, the term stuck. On those tough days, the ones when none of my kiddos want to eat, nap, play, or smile… those are my days to take on and come out victorious… or at the very least, survive until bedtime. It’s what I call my #mommygladiator days. But, in all seriousness, you could be a mom of a newborn in the survival mode, you could have 2 kids under the age 5 and still feel overwhelmed, or maybe just maybe you’re like me with a semi-large family of 6 kids all under the age of 9 years-old; at any point of motherhood, I think we are all #mommygladiators in our own right! And, hey, if you don’t have kids yet, you’re totally invited into this corner of the blogosphere to read about our adventures too!
So my new online friend/reader, beware 🙂 it’s gonna be a crazy ride, but the best kind, when you get to peer into my windows and hear and see a little glimpse into our lives and see what it’s like to be a #mommygladiator of a small tribe of children.
