One of the most pervasive complaints about social media is that it's not authentic. We present the best version of ourselves and hide what's unflattering. Pictures get cropped and tinted and only our accomplishments are touted. I'm as guilty as the next person. Case in point, here's the picture I posted on Facebook the other day:
This is my family at our best. Wearing real clothes, looking all lovey and joy-filled. The cynical ones among you are rolling your eyes and yelling, "that's not what it's really like!!" And 95 percent of the time, you're right. So, in the interest of keeping it real, here's what's happening right now:
I am lying on the couch, watching my son on the video monitor as he pulls the stuffing out of a hole in one of his stuffed animals and drops it behind his bed. I'm not going to stop him, because there's an hour left of nap time and this is the 40-bajillionth day in a row that it's rained. We are out of fun rainy day activities. Survival mode is in full effect. My son knows to stay in bed until the 3 is the first number on the clock in his room. So unless he finds matches and starts setting that stuffing on fire, he can do whatever he wants. My hair is unbrushed and my face is makeup-free. My clothes are not exactly clean, but my daughter is finally asleep after an epic battle. She is draped across me like a victory flag, so I won't be moving a muscle to seek out fresh clothes anytime soon. I knocked over a glass of tea on the rug, but rather than clean it up, I just threw a towel over it because the baby is finally asleep and you do not disturb the baby. We will be having breakfast for supper, because even at 2 in the afternoon, I know I won't feel like cooking dinner. Plus, I will likely bribe my son by promising pancakes for dinner at some point this afternoon as I count the minutes until Jon walks in the door.
Update: he fell asleep at 2:52, and I felt like I won the lottery. I enjoyed 10 minutes of both-kids-asleep-at-the-same-time bliss before the little one woke up with an explosive poop. As a result, we are now both wearing clean clothes though, so we will call it a net win.
That's my real life for today, anyway.