At what point do I no longer have the excuse to leave the house looking like a complete disaster?

A few weeks ago I noticed that I had a camel sticker in my hair. To my knowledge I had not been around stickers all day, so I was unable to put a time stamp on the arrival of the sticker in my hair. I’m pretty sure that I had been to the grocery store and Target that day. There is a very high probability that the camel sticker came with us.

The shocking part about it was that I was not that embarrassed. My reaction was more like “Huh, a camel sticker in my hair. How odd.”

About a week ago, I noticed another sticker on my shirt. It was one of the reward stickers I give to my kids when they’ve done something good. It was a round smiley face sticker with “Great Attitude” written around it. This time, instead of taking it off, I thought to myself “You know what? I have had a good attitude today.  I’m going to keep this sticker.”

I wore it for the rest of the day. Errands and all.

I don’t think I’ve completely let myself go. I get dressed every morning. I shower daily. I even blow-dry my hair at least 50% of the time. But after 9 AM, it’s all downhill. The truth is I’m so busy chasing three kids around all day; I have no time to redo my hair or change my clothes. At no point before I leave the house do I think, “I’m about to leave the house. There is a good chance I have applesauce on my shirt and half of my ponytail has fallen out. Maybe I should grab a quick look in the mirror. It couldn’t hurt.”

Nope, that’s not how I think.

This is okay when you are the mom of a baby. People expect that. They know you haven’t slept in weeks. But I sleep through the night. I don’t change diapers all day. At some point people stop making excuses for you. At some point you just become the mom that always seems to have stickers in her hair.

I am trying to get better. I am doing my best to look decent in public.

But I can’t make any promises. We have a lot of stickers in our house.