Around the time that C had his febrile seizure (did I blog about that? I feel like I didn't … it was on Valentine's Day, in Target, the Mister was on an airplane on his way home from a business trip, scariest thing I've experienced as a parent to date next to falling while I was holding N when he was 5 months old causing me to lose my hold on him and him to hit his head on the side walk … did I blog about that either? Clearly I'm trying to block these things out …) my sweet neighbor gave me a bag of relaxing shower gel and body scrub that I LOVED the smell of. I noticed a few months ago while using the shower gel that it said "and bubble bath" and thought to myself "I need to make good use out of this "and bubble bath" eucalyptus goodness soon." One Saturday night after the Mister and I had cooked dinner and he was watching sports (which was about to put me into a coma anyways) I decided to take advantage of my shower gel/bubble bath combo and have my own "tubby time". And man am I glad I did.
Ladies, if you don't do this on a regular basis, can I suggest you do? As moms we don't take a whole lot of time for ourselves. I don't know if you're like I am but most nights, after talking to the Mister, I pretty much defer to sitting on the couch watching whatever I've DVR'ed and if it's an evening where I don't have something DVR'ed (heaven forbid … PANIC) then I resort to watching reruns of Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens or The Office. Now don't get me wrong. I LOVE all four of those shows. But I could also quote almost every episode ever made of each (really the King of Queens only because it was all that was on those late night breast feeding-a-thons when we were fresh at home with N). Which clearly illustrates that it's not SUPER necessary that I watch EVERY. NIGHT.
When I finally took the time to take that bath, I sat there, bath full of bubbles, Enya on Pandora, candles lit all around me, big, full glass of Pinot Grigio within arms reach and I remembered … I remembered WHO I am. Not that my sweet littles steal my identity. That's not it at all. But sometimes you get so caught up in "Are they tired/hungry/sick/teething?" "Am I doing enough/being a good mom/pointing them to Jesus/showing them how MUCH I love them?" "I need to clean my house/organize my closets/clean out the toy boxes/cook more/work out/text so-and-so back." and so on and so forth that you forget. You forget who you were before you became "mommy". You forget who you were as a woman, a friend and as a wife. That's not to say that you are no longer these things because goodness knows I can't go a day without the support of the Mister and my girlfriends. But those roles, and who you are in them have changed.
As I sat there an hour later, immersed by bubbles, glass of wine in hand with Orinoco Flow blaring on Pandora while my sweet littles fluttered off in dream land I felt so relaxed. I prayed, I filled my mind with beautiful memories and hopeful thoughts of the future. I asked the Lord to refresh me. Renew me. Restore me. To make me ready. Ready to take on the next day. Ready for my sweet littles, the Mister and the demands of tomorrow. And I felt an overwhelming sense of how blessed I am in this life I live. Not to mention MAN did I sleep good!
I have now done this more times than I can count on both hands since the first time I did it. And have wondered why I didn't do it more often before this. As a mom of a 3 1/2 year old and 16 month old (boys no less) they can create little boy havoc and the house can look like a tornado faster than I just cleaned it up. Add in my ever-shedding precious Labrador and I sometimes feel like I live in episode of Hoarders. But after reading several "these moments are fleeting" blogs this week (and currently being fresh out of another heavenly "tubby time") I really want to make sure I put my best self forward. For myself, the Mister and my family. And I can't do that if I don't make enough time for myself.
So here's to "tubby time" mommas! Go pour some bubbles in your bathtub and wine in your glass. I promise you won't regret it.
