Honey Buckets

Okay. I think all of us know what a Honey Bucket is. Those blue, portable toilets, right? Most of us choose to avoid them as much as possible, and "hold it" if at all possible. Well, sometimes, using them are unavoidable...

The other day, I had to run to Costco to pick up a view items for the home. Of course, I had my two kids along with me, so we got there about lunch time, as I had to wait until Jada returned from kindergarten. After our brief shopping experience, Jada wanted to have some lunch, so we got some pizza and sat down at the picnic tables at Costco. I kept Gabe strapped into the cart, and Jada and I ate quickly ate. As we picked up our plates to toss in the garbage, I looked at Gabe and saw that something yellow had exploded up the back of his pants. Absolutely mortified, I rushed the cart, with Gabe and Jada in tow to the big sign that said "restrooms". When I got there, there was a smaller sign that said that due to the expansion of the store, their were "temporary" bathrooms for the patrons to use. I grabbed Gabe from the cart, holding his body away from me to limit the amount of "yellow" explosion from my person as possible. I literally walked outside into a fenced area, and realized that my only options were a blue honey bucket, or a bigger one, that looked like a small trailer, though it still said "honey bucket" on the side. I thought I might have better luck in the trailer, so I headed that way. Unfortunately, luck did not find me there. There was nothing but 3 stalls to choose from, and no baby changing table anywhere in sight. As I squeezed into one of the stalls, quickly thinking to myself, "How the heck am I going to do this?" I locked the door, threw my bag on the ground, and started stripping Gabe out of his clothes and finding a baby wipe to do some preliminary cleaning. I shut the toilet lid and laid his jacket underneath so I could tell myself that I was somewhat avoiding germs I didn't even want to think were on every surface of that toilet stall. So, I cleaned him up, narrowly avoiding my son rolling off the seat, and having him scream the whole time, because, it just wasn't a pleasant experience for either one of us.

Anyway, the only reason why I am sharing this experience is the fact that I don't think people understand how hard even a simple trip to the grocery store can actually be. Things like this happen to me and other mothers like me all the time. It's a complicated, dirty, and disgusting job at times. I know the typical sterotypes of stay-at-home mom's are that they sit around watching soap operas and reading romance novels in between cooking a meal that they pulled out of the freezer, but I am here to say I don't know any mothers like that. In fact, I can say personally, that changing from a full-time professional to being a full-time mommy, that my duties as a mommy are much more time-consuming, I get no breaks, sometimes, I don't even get to use the bathroom. I work overtime everyday, and at the end of the day, I am ready for my bed, and then, when I am sleeping, I wake up a couple times a night to change a diaper, or make a bottle, or comfort my daughter when she's had a nightmare.
Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to discredit my previous work at my other jobs, but I know that being a full-time parent can be taken for granted and looked down upon as not as important, or difficult or demanding as other jobs, but it is. And because of all those things, it is also the most satisfying and rewarding of any job.
Talking to my husband a few weeks back, he asked me if I was "happy". Meaning, am I happy staying home with the kids. I looked at him, and thought about all that I was feeling and said to him, "I finally feel like I am at peace. I am happier than I have ever been, and I know, that this is what I am supposed to do. There is no where else, or nothing else that I would like to be doing."
Even after the honey bucket incident... I still feel this way.