For the most part, I am pretty mellow when it comes to having a more messy than tidy house (ahem..okay, a lot more messy than tidy)and kids running around being more noisy than quiet (yea, of course way more noisy than quiet...sheesh!) but sometimes I try to revise who we are as a family.
Usually this will happen around the beginning of a new year...like now. You know...the whole resolution thing and all. The last week or so I have found myself going from great highs to lowly lows...all because of me and my annual "itch" to become the oh so perfect mother and wife. Not that I believe Donna Reed (oops...pardon me while I cover my age a bit), I mean Carol Brady (age still showing? Oh well...it gets harder to cover up each year...so be it!) were examples of what women and mothers should strive for in order to be happy. Not at all!
But I do find myself thinking I can wave some sort of magical motivational wand, and voila! My kids will cooperate, the hubbs will cooperate (!), and life will be organized, happy and chaos-free. My house will be clean at all hours of the day so that there are never any of those horrible moments when someone unexpectedly decides to come and visit! Yes--I can open my door proudly and usher in company with a big smile on my face. No toys will cover my living room floor, my two year old will be dressed in cute clothes ( I rarely get to see this boy dressed, sigh. He takes his clothes off as fast, no faster actually, than I can dress him.), my four year old will not be practicing his flying dives off every piece of furniture in the house, and no dog hair will mysteriously appear on my company's clothes. So maybe my 11 year old and her daily entourage of giggling girls will be listening to the Jonas Brothers, but the music will be at a reasonable level, and no ear piercing shrieks will break the sound barrier every few seconds. And perhaps, best of all, my hubby's socks and shoes will not be waiting for company to trip over. Nope, they will be safely secure in our closet (put there by the now-cooperative hubbs of course!)
I imagine having the perfect balance of work time and time with my kids. I even have the perfect amount of time left to prepare delicious healthy meals every night. I picture my kids sitting near me quietly working on puzzles, painting, and other educational quiet toys as I accomplish great things on my laptop. Then I see us playing outdoors in the brilliant sunshine and laughing so happily. Yes--of course there is a bluebird nearby, hehe!
Yes..somehow each January I decide I will accomplish this. By February I am usually over it. I won't be perfect after all. Nor will my kids be (except to me, of course.)
But I still wouldn't trade my life as a stay at home mom with loud jumping diaper clad only shrieking kids in a messy house over run by six dogs for anything else right now. I guess for me, things are perfectly fine. And I feel very blessed.