1. There is no such thing as a short grocery list.
2. It will always take longer than I think to get out the door.
3. A simple yes or no works just as well as those overblown explanations I keep giving. Seriously, Annie? Quit talking.
4. When I am discouraged, depressed, unmotivated, and cranky, 9 times out of 10, it is because I need sleep. A 20-minute nap works wonders. A 2-hour nap is miraculous.
5. Speaking of naps, everyone who is not a parent undervalues the beauty and glory of sleep. But you can’t really convince them of that…
6. Every little thing I can do to make morning and bedtime and post-nap-grumpy-time and pre-dinnertime-witching-hour easier and simpler is a good idea.
A really good idea.
7. These kids are not deprived of anything, literally. Hello, richest country in the world. We live here. Our “poor” is still pretty darn good.
8. The day is hugely and disproportionately better when I get up before everybody else and get the day started calmly.
9. The day is hugely and disproportionately worse when I sleep until the last minute and get the day started in a grumpy funk of caffeine-deprived sleep haze.
10. I should have bought stock in a coffee company.
11. Schedules – realistic, flexible ones – help everybody.
12. Kids like routines.
13. Kids can live on an amazingly small amount of food.
14. If it can be spilled, it will be spilled. Put a lid on that freakin’ sippie cup. That’s why they have lids.
15. Any type of food, when eaten by a child in a car, will produce ten times its weight in crumbs.
16. I have to say no more than I get to say yes, but that’s okay. It’s simply a condition of our complex, overfilled world.
17. I will probably always be the Mom that the other Moms at the playground look at funny. That’s okay.
18. Comparisons to other Moms have absolutely no business influencing my life or standards. We’re all different, and that’s good.
19. If I can be one step ahead (of need, kids, deadlines), then everything works better.
20. I can never take too many photos. Or videos.
21. I should write down the funny things these kids say and do, because chances are I’ll forget by the end of the day if I don’t.
I really like #3. I often find myself explaining when there is no need for an explanation!