I have heard many times “how to you do it?” “I am drowning with just 2 kids” “I could never do that” when other moms find out I have six children and homeschool them. Its funny because, well for one thing when I only had one or two kids I thought the same thing about those who had a bunch of kids. And it’s also funny because they think I have it all together, I must have it all together to have half a dozen kids and homeschool, right?….hummmm…no….not even close.
Today is a great example of NOT having it all together: So we are getting ready to head out of the door to dance classes, again, almost running late, everybody had shoes and coats on, except me, I was still throwing coloring books, ninja turtles, and lollipops in my bag to keep the kids who weren’t in class happy for 45 min. I realized my 2 1/2 year old hadn't gone to the bathroom for a while, so I pulled her little potty chair into the hallway by the front door and sat her on it (yes, while she still had her jacket and boots on, haha). My oldest is saying that we are going to be late, the other kids were tired of being crowded at the door and were like “we’re outta here” and started walking out to the car, leaving my daughter who is sitting on the potty exposed to the cold air and neighbors. I was feeling like quite a “hot mess” (as my girls would say) with my toddler on my hip, big bag over my shoulder, as I rush to lock my front door and run to the van. Of course a neighbor was outside.
I admit that I don’t love the neighbors seeing that I am struggling to just get out of the door, but yeah sometimes it happens, sometimes the kids are hitting each other on the way to the van, hollering at each other as they fight over who gets in first, I am often running back inside for something I have forgotten. That is not even mentioning the fact that we got no schoolwork done today, my house was a mess and was in desperate need of attention, despite the fact that I had it looking pretty good just a couple days ago! So at the time when we are at home between being back and forth from dance classes, when ideally we would work on school work, I let the kids play legos so that I could get the place looking decent again. This is just a typical Monday for me.
It’s ok though, it’s all part of the life of a mom. Sometimes I just stand back and have to laugh at the chaos of it all. Kids acting crazy and rowdy, dinner needing made, mountain of laundry needing folded, toys and books scattered everywhere, I kinda love it. It makes me smile. Have you seen the movie Mom’s Night Out? I love the theme of it, a beautiful mess. That is the definition of motherhood. I love that.
It can be easy to feel frustrated and overwhelmed by the chaos of running a home and raising kids, I have those days, trust me. But hearing the girls giggling together, having my toddler whisper “I love you forever” with her arms around my neck, watching my boys run up the stairs to show me the “awesome” lego invention they just came up with makes it all worth while.
Even during my hardest days just stepping back to look at them, to soak it all in (what a miracle each one really is) gives me so much joy.
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