Let’s be honest. Like super honest. We all have unrealistic expectations. We have these images in our mind of how life is going to be and then when it doesn’t happen that exact way, we get extremely disappointed.

Why can’t we just be honest with ourselves in the beginning? Admit that life isn’t perfect, our kids aren’t perfect, and we sure as hell aren’t perfect.

It’s like the Pinterest fail. You follow the directions exactly to make a nativity scene for Christmas out of toothpicks and rubber cement and end up with a big pile of nothing and a toddler with two fingers glued together.

Would you like more examples? Lucky for you I made a list of some of my own unrealistic expectations.

• Every time we are driving to church, I tell myself that this is the service where my three year old, Henry, will sit still and be quiet. Instead, he screams that he’s thirsty and launches a potato head into the air that my husband somehow manages to reach up and grab before it jacks one of the adults behind us in the head.
• I think that since I love everything that I write on my blog that everyone else will like it. That they will read it and think it’s amazing. So when I get a mean comment or email, I get really upset.
• Every time I try on clothes or weigh myself I wonder why I’m still not fitting into that size I wore in college. I’ve been working out six days a weeks! Oh yeah, but I do survive off of coffee, half-eaten chicken nuggets, ham sandwiches and Diet Mountain Dew. Not exactly the recipe for a stellar body.
• Each night that I put my three month old down to sleep, I kiss him and say see you at 6 am Cy Baby! But he is always awake at 5 am. And for some reason I am still shocked each morning when he is up at 5 am.

Why do we burden ourselves with these unrealistic expectations? All they bring is disappointment! I could blame it on the media. I could blame it on the Kardashians. But there is no one to blame but myself.

Yes, miracles happen. Simon did start sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old. I have lost the majority of my baby weight thus far.

BUT IT ALL TOOK A SHIT TON OF WORK!

It might not be that we have unrealistic expectations, it’s just that we aren’t working hard enough to make these lofty goals a reality. You can’t wish for something to happen and it just happens. Maybe once in a blue moon for any of you assholes that have won the lottery..

You have to work your butt off to achieve a goal. If I want Henry to start sitting through church like the little angel he isn’t, I need to sit down and talk to him about the kind of behavior I expect from him and the consequences if he doesn’t act that way. But instead I just tell him to be a good boy in church and wish for the best.

No one is going to agree with everything I post on my blog. Someone will say this post is absolute garbage and it doesn’t deserve to be anywhere on the internet. BUT THAT’S OKAY! At least I managed to get some sort of feeling out of them. Better than nothing, right?

If I want a stellar body, I need to put down the chicken nuggets and pick up a salad. But I love chicken nuggets so I eat them. I know each and every time I eat fast food that I’m not going to wake up the next morning with abs, a tan, and long flowing locks. But that would be so nice.

If I want my three month old to sleep an extra hour in the morning, I need to put him to bed an hour later. BUT I’M TIRED AT NIGHT! Mommy needs her alone time. So I will continue to wake up at the crack of dawn.

So think about your unrealistic expectation. Is it really unrealistic? Or are you just not working to achieve it? Because I honestly do believe we can do pretty much anything we want if we work hard enough.

So next time you see me eating the leftover chicken nuggets or grilled cheese off my toddler’s plate, remind me that you don’t get abs and a tan by eating processed food shaped like a dinosaur.

Until Next Time,

Jamie