{Texta'd Walls, Tantrums, Tiredness and Keeping it Real}

I have had some time away from the blog to focus on my family for a little while. It was definitley needed, but I have missed my blog. I find that this is an online journal for me and makes me a better person as it stretches me and connects me with some amazing ideas across the blogging world.

However, I have read a post on Be A Fun Mum recently which moved me greatly and has been on my mind. That, paired with a conversation with a friend about burnt dinners a few weeks ago, has inspired this post.

Our society is preoccupied with the pursuit of perfection in all different sorts of ways.
It is percieved and assumed that the standard of success is to live up to a "catalogue life". To be perfect parents, in the perfectly kept house, drive a perfect car, have the perfect 'magazine worthy' figure, dress perfectly and, with perfect sit still and well adjusted children that never misbehave. I think it is interesting how images of 'perfection' bombard us in our world 24/7!!
We all to SOME extent (and maybe even sub-consciously) chase the unattainable, impossible pursuit of this life that we 'so called expected' to live. None of us can ever live up to this ridiculous assumption.

REAL LIFE will look different for everyone, and I wanted to take this opportunity to share what REAL looks like to me.
1. I love folding washing, its often what I do in front of a favourite TV show. But I am the worst at putting it away! I have great intentions and put family members clothes in their own baskets. But they often sit in the respective bedrooms until I realise I need the baskets for the same process to start again! lol 2. There are many recipes and meals that DON'T make it to the blog. You don't see me post about the nights where I only have the energy to heat up baked beans on toast for dinner and end up burning the toast in the process!

3. Some mornings, I stumble down the stairs with kids in toe and plop him in front of the 'digital babysitter' while I either fumble a tea or coffee or just try to wake up which can take me about an hour sometimes.

4. Why do I wake up like a dishevelled zombie most mornings? Because my greatest weakness is the lack of self-discipline to go to bed early. I stay up too late always, why? Because it is a time where I don't hear "Muuuuuuum", I can clean up and it stays that way for more then 5 mins, I can turn off ABC Kids and watch my shows, It's a time where I can have a toilet break and a shower without visitors. Night time is where I have adult conversations, get to craft or cook and do it by myself! It sounds selfish, I know, but SO much of my world is surrounded by kids (because I love them), so having my time to 'me' is so important, and that often happens at night time.

5. Turn up at my place un-announced (especially during 'happy hour') and you will probably find toys on the floor, dishes stacked next to the sink, baskets of folded washing ;), crumbs and bits of food on the floor under the bench from where the kids made their mark from the last meal. Amidst that, I am probably tearing my 1.5 yo from a texta poised at a wall or him climbing up something at the same time as telling my 4 year old to stop whinging. The joys of multi-tasking.

I love my life, I am blessed to have what I have, but away from the 'blog worthy' photos, this is my reality more often than not. I don't know what your REALITY is, but sometimes this is mine.

Enjoy;
Lauren x