Embracing Where You Are...

In the world we live in, it's so easy to get lost in expectations. More than likely, as a mom, you've set such ridiculously high standards and expectations for the way things are "supposed" to be and how things are "supposed" to go that we don't realize that we are not carbon copies of perfection...

• our kids are going to spill things....


• they're going to make a mess...


• they're going to get gooey fingerprints on your only clean dress shirt...


• they're going to have a meltdown when you take away the spatula because they're hitting the dog with it...


• they're going to have a dirty diaper when you're running five minutes late and pick them up to head out the door only to catch a whiff of the stank filling their Pampers... only to realize you're out of diapers on the changing table and so you have to clean them off and let them run around with a bare butt while you ravage the diaper bag for the last clean diaper...


• They're going to empty whatever it is that you just filled up...


• they're going to dump the dog water if you leave it unsecured...


• they're going to scream when you're on the phone...


• More than likely you're not going to be skinnier than your pre-pregnancy weight eight days after giving birth... or even eight months....

We need to be okay with being able to embrace the stage we are at in our lives without guilt or shame.


Guilt? Shame? Such heavy words but, yes.... don't feel guilty for living the stage of life you're in. There's no guilt in being a mom. But, I'll admit, it's hard not to when you've got others that aren't in the same season of life, being able to do things that you WANT to... but can't. It's hard. Sometimes, it downright sucks. But it's just a season... One of my favorite quotes is so poignant in this situation: "This, too, shall pass."


Don't make excuses for your house being a mess when you have a toddler. 'Tis the season.


Don't make excuses for your kitchen to be piled with dishes when you have kids... 'tis the season.


Don't feel guilty for not keeping up with everyone's Facebook entries if you have a life... (well, that's just coz you have a life... nothing really to do with kids! ha!)


I have friends that think I'm supermom. I'm far from it. I have things I do well at and I have things that I struggle constantly with. I'm a neat-freak, organizer, planner, OCD, anal-retentive, control freak. I like organization. I like a place for everything and everything in it's place. I don't have that right now. It's driving me nutso.


If you walk into my home, you'll see piles of "stuff" in my foyer. The "stuff" is the bane of my existence at the present time. I'm purging my home of maternity clothes, infant "stuff" and gear as well as junk. Some is listed on e-bay, some is listed on Craigslist, some is being given to a teen MOPS group and some of it is being donated to charity. BUT, until it's all dealt with, it's SOMEWHERE. And, generally, that somewhere is a place where it really does NOT belong.


In the family room I have a huge Rubbermaid tub of fall/winter maternity clothes. They obviously won't be big sellers right now so I'm going to have to hold onto those (and find someplace to store them) until such time that I can sell them. My desk, right now, it's got a couple of piles of "stuff" that I need to go through.


The breakfast nook has not one, not two, but three dog crates in it. Why? Because there's really no other place to put three dog crates in our home. Especially when one is large enough to put a refrigerator in it... even though it typically houses a Moose. (I think, however, they all may be moved to the bedroom. Isn't that such a calming thought and lovely bedroom decor? Dog crates. Bleh!)


My kitchen... this is the only room, (sans the bar area that has three things that need to be mailed -- Sorry Amanda, it's just sitting there waiting for me to take Brenden's box to the PO!) that I am able to keep totally clean on a continual, daily basis.


The playroom generally looks like Toys R Us threw up all over it (and surprisingly, I'm totally okay with that).


My scraproom is slowly being organized so that I can get back in there and SCRAP! It's so calming for me and I miss it so!


The formal dining room (off the playroom and to the left of the foyer) is generally crap free other than right now it has a few decorative items on it that can't be left low because some little Chuckie running through our house wants to destroy them.

And that's just today... who knows what it will be like tomorrow. But, generally speaking, who really cares? I want my boys to remember we had fun in the kitchen, we played in the yard, we did things and not worried about the "fluff." 'Tis the season, you know. It's summer. That's my excuse (for now) anyway. And, because of that, I can embrace where I am.