I have had thoughts for a blog post about this for months, but I'm not very good at putting my thoughts into coherent communication all the time, so forgive my ramblings. Here we go! I love being a mom, but I have such conflicted feelings about what I expect from myself and what I'm able to do. And I realize I can improve a lot if I am more consistent with the children helping out (putting their shoes, backpacks, toys, dirty clothes away, etc away--having a 5 min cleanup before going up for bed, reminding them to do their dinner jobs) but I get so overwhelmed sometimes that I just give up. More often than not, I feel buried in messes. Anywhere I clean up only stays cleaned up for minutes, sometimes hours if I'm lucky and by the end of the day, my steam is gone, so I always wake up to a mess. So here we will document what life "looks like" with small children because people are always telling me I'm going to miss this phase of life.
I love the kids art and I want them to be proud of what they create, but stuff gets knocked off the fridge every time we walk by.
It's important to me to make homemade meals, but that takes time and by the time dinner is done Leo is done being confined so this is always waiting for me in the morning.
The 'collection' at the top of the stairs-their bedrooms are only inches away from the stuff, but for some reason we can't quite get it all the way in there.
The big boys room-a lot of days there is less of the floor showing, so this one isn't that bad.
Do people really make their beds? I think I do maybe twice a year and I won't even expound upon the clothes that have to lay out all over because they are too dirty to put back with the clean clothes, but not dirty enough to go in the dirty clothes basket yet.
Ahh, clean clothes...I admit sometimes we just come down stairs to get dressed after they've been sitting on the couch for a day or two.
And this is a normal day in Jane and Adam's room. I've removed most of the toys from their room (in an attempt to keep it cleaner) but Adam has taken to ripping all the Sunday clothes off of the hangers at bedtime. Call me crazy, but I'm not sure that I'm going to miss some of these sights.
I literally don't have time to keep up and this definitely affects my mood even when I try not to let it. I feel like I can't control my emotional responses to the constant disarray. And then I get mad and then I feel guilty. Why do I think every other mom with young kids has a spotless house?!? I know it's ridiculous, but I know it's something I need to work on also. Older people are ALWAYS telling me to enjoy my kids while they're little and how much I'm going to miss this phase of life. I guess we'll have to wait for my blog post in 20 years:-)
3 comments:
I know. Sigh. We are in it together. I feel exactly the same way
oh Elizabeth, I agree completely. They only miss the hugs kisses and playing with their fun little ones. I promise you that they do not miss the messes and they are lying if they tell you otherwise. They are looking through rose colored glasses and only remember the good....sort of like labor when you're holding a sleeping new born.
I could send you some pictures that would make you feel that you are not alone in this. I don't know who these moms are with spotless houses but the only way I could do that would be either never sleep or be not fun at all. Not worth it on either account! Once I learned to embrace the footprints on the walls and the legos stuffed in every crevice of my home I felt a lot better.
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