Why I (Almost) Always Get Dressed & Do My Hair/Make Up as a Stay at Home Mom

In the midst of staying home with four young children, homeschooling, keeping a clean and tidy home, and cooking for my family, it can be all too easy to forget one really important aspect of life...that I'm a WIFE!  The demands of staying at home with kids may seem like a great excuse to skip the showers, throw up your hair, and stay in yoga pants all day.  And sometimes I do exactly that.  

But most days I don't.  Most days I wake up, put on some make up, straighten my hair, and get dressed (I shower at night).  Most days, I do this before my husband even leaves for the day.  My husband would tell me not to worry about it.  He really doesn't care if I'm wearing make up or not.  But I do.  It's not out of vanity or feeling "naked" without make-up.  In fact, for years into our marriage, I didn't wear anything except mascara.  And still, I don't wear foundation on my skin unless I need to because I've had some easily-irritated red skin on my face since my son Aaron was born two years ago. But I do fancy up my eyes each day.  

There are two main reasons for this:

1. my husband

2. me

While I occasionally will stay in some yoga pants, throw up my hair, and go make-up less for the day, I typically reserve this fashion for days when I'm doing lots of cleaning of the scrubbing variety or for when I'm sick or plan to relax quite a bit.  

It has always seemed silly to me to think that I would "get presentable" to go out for OTHER people (many of whom I don't know, like at the grocery store), but that I wouldn't give the same courtesy to my own husband.  Or myself, for that matter.  My own husband deserves to feast his eyes upon a wife who has spent some time making herself look her best.  Not in a weird, I have 10 tons of make-up on my face and a gallon of hairspray in my up-do hair kinda way, though.  Just a reasonable, 'hi, I care about how I present myself' kinda way.

I personally believe that getting dressed provides a very different state of mind for me than staying in yoga pants.  Yoga pants, to me, mean I'm not going anywhere and I have nothing important to do.  There's no effort, and I will not be giving any effort into my day, either.  Getting dressed communicates that I'm ready for the day.  Ready to teach my children.  Ready to be productive.  Ready to leave the house if I need to.  Ready to be a smoking hot wife for when my husband comes home.  It's just different.

The way I look translates into how I feel.  If I look frumpy, chances are I'm going to act frumpy.  If I look put together, my day is much more organized and daily tasks are accomplished in a much more orderly way.

For the sake of me, my husband, my children, and my home, I get dressed each day.  I put myself together, and I take care of my appearance.

And while I know my husband would not judge me for wearing pj's or yoga pants all day, I really love that he can come home to me looking my best.  Or at least as "best" as you can be when you're caring for little ones all day (3, 2, 1, vomit in the hair.  Awesome.).  :)