How to be a Housewife: Wash. Rinse. Fold. Repeat.

Gosh, I remember clearly the stress I felt when I first had my daughter. There were questions everywhere. How do I nurse?  How long do I nurse? How do I manage cooking, cleaning, eating, sleeping, mothering and sanity??  How long does she eat baby food, how do I decide if a visit to the doctor is absolutely necessary?  There was so much new gear, paraphernalia, apparatus and mechanics to figure out.  I could no longer leave the house and hop in the car to simply get a coffee.  I had to pop a baby in a car seat, pop the car seat in the car and pray for no screaming, leaky diapers or any unpredictable stuff along the way.

Just when I had it all figured out along came child number two, my darling son.  By this time I understood lots of stuff.  I wasn't super paranoid about him indulging in sweets before his first birthday.  I could get him to latch on immediately for nursing.  As a matter of fact, the little guy was so addicted to nursing I had to cut him off at a year.  Our whole relationship was about the boob.  Typical guy, but we will leave that for another post.

With child number two, I had mastered lots but not loads......loads of laundry, cleaning, dishes, cooking, shopping and tantrums.  The list of "loads" could go on and on.  There was so much to do, all the time.  The chores never went away and they still don't.  Which brings me to this:  "Friends" would ask "Why are you so stressed?"  These folks had family close by, live in nannies and loads of other hired help.

For all of you out there who are asked "Why are you so stressed?"  Look at the source it is coming from.  Is everything taken care of for the questioner?  We are supposed to be stressed when we give our all, all the time!  What we need to do is come together as a team.  We need to smile more and stress less.  We need to be able to open up to like minded people.  We need support from one  another.  We need to figure out solutions and yes, we need time away from all the chores.  Unless you have a paid staff, those chores are always there waiting.

My advice to myself and all the other folks who are parenting small, medium or big kids is take some time for you.  Embrace friendships and yourself.  It'll make you a better mom with a bigger smile.

This is an original Orange County Moms Blog post.

photo credit Sadie Olive Photography

Please visit Marla at her blog Family Fresh Cooking where she lets off steam by cooking up a creative storm.  She loves to tweet, facebook and stumble all kinds of daily happenings.