Confessions of a Recovering Supermom Intro

Yesterday as I was on my way to the mattress store to ask the manager if  my six kids and I could jump on mattresses (part of the inspiring idea I had at 1:00 pm to allow my kids to choose 14 "free" ideas in honor of the last day of 2014), I casually mentioned I may be crazy.  My oldest son who is 14, coincidentally, chimed in, "of course you're crazy, everyone thinks you're crazy".  I guess that's why when I asked to buy the key lime pie truffle at See's candy earlier that day with my six kids in tow, the man behind the counter handed it to me slowly and just said, "Here, you deserve this!"

Anyhoo, I won't go into a long introduction into who I am, but when I had 3 kids, I definitely knew I was a supermom and everyone else knew it too.  My house was perfectly clean, my kids were well behaved and smart, dinner had 5 parts: a protein, a fruit, a vegetable, a starch, and a decoration (don't judge), and I always had my hair in a ponytail which everyone knows is the hairstyle of moms in action.  I had an outline in my head of the book on parenting I was going to write.  I knew it would be so inspiring that people all over the world would send me letters of success on how my amazing parenting advice had catapulted their children to become the presidents of companies and countries!

Then, my husband and I moved out of country to become missionaries in Guatemala.  The first week I pulled my sheets off on Thursday to wash them, because that's what supermoms do on Thursdays.  I vigorously began washing all 4 sets of sheet in the pila (a hand washing device because we didn't have a washing machine) and then ringing them out to dry.  Four days later, the sheets were still not dry and the locals informed me that it was too humid for the sheets to dry in the shade!  That was my first realization that being a supermom may not be my destiny.  After three years on the mission field I remember asking a close friend, "How long is too long to go between sheet washing?"  My reformation had begun.

I live back in the States now and have three adopted kids in addition to twin girls and another son.  I have one son from Guatemala and a son and daughter from Ethiopia.  My youngest son has ADHD, which pretty much has cured me from my supermom ways!  I had three kids turn thirteen this year so I have four teenagers out of my six kids, which could be why people say I'm crazy.   I'm a recovering supermom who is on a journey of discovering I can't and don't have to be a perfect mom.  I am learning to love and laugh (ok scream and cry too) at myself in all circumstances even when I'm asked if I run a daycare three times in one day.  This blog is the beginning of my confessions as a recovering supermom.