So, I thought I was "put together"...

I like to think that I exude this aura of "put together mom".  I know, I completely don't, but I like to pretend.  It is obvious that I don't have it together at all by the fact that I take my son to school in pajamas and slippers (don't worry, I don't get out of the car...and imagine the extreme humiliation that overcame me when I was once called, right outside the parking lot, because he was faking sick and they wanted me to come get him.  In that moment, I panicked.  Not because my child was potentially sick, but because I was in no position to go retrieve him.  I was torn between returning immediately and pretending I was further away than I was, in an effort to buy enough time to go home and make myself moderately presentable.  Fortunately, he was just faking and we were able to come to an understanding with threats that if he was sick and I came back, he would spend the day in bed!)  This is also evident by the fact that my child wore the same sleeper through the day yesterday that he had worn the night before - and slept in it AGAIN.  But, perhaps the most obvious sign of them all is that our Friday drives to school are filled with learning the memory verse that he's had all week to learn and I've neglected to teach him.  Especially today, when I knew he wouldn't be guarded by the other children in his "group" as he recited them.

But, in those moments when everything is falling apart and I try with the might of a warrior to make it appear otherwise, I realize that I don't have to have it all put together.  My children love me the most when we just "go with it".  Cole gets the biggest laughs when disaster strikes and he sees me paddling like a duck.  Hunter doesn't care if laundry is done, the house is clean or dinner is made, as long as his snuggle time isn't compromised.  And my husband, who knows my faults and loves me in spite of them, knows that my intentions are always in the right place and my heart is always trying its hardest.  So, no, I may not have it all together.  Sometimes my dishes aren't done, my kid has to wear pants twice before they get washed, my other child wears the same outfit repeatedly and my husband can't find his belt, but that's okay - they love my flaws and they love me.  And at the end of the day, that's all I need, because we might not have it all together, but together we have it all.