one of the hardest things for me in my transition to mom-hood has been dealing with the ongoing mess. drives me crazy. i like my space clean, organized, and just so. kids & clean are two words that never go together. ever. it has been really hard for me to learn how to be okay with a not so perfectly clean house. it has been even harder for me to allow my kids to learn to do things themselves, even if it means the results are far from perfect. but if i hadn't let go of my "ideal perfect world," then my heart wouldn't have had the biggest smile when i walked into max's room to see that he really was telling the truth when he said he made his bed all by himself.
and i wouldn't have gotten the biggest chuckle out of his arrangement of his current favorite "friends" in his life: Elmo, Maui, the Easter Bunny from Ahma & Papa, Lightning McQueen, & Dino.
I would have totally missed out on this proud boy's face when he gladly posed for the camera so that Daddy could see how great his bed making skills are. truly, he's better than zoe! :)
and even though the kids know that they should ALWAYS ask before using mommy's "nice" camera, its sometimes nice to have your daughter pick up the camera to take random pics b/c she truly seems interested in photography.
and then there are things i try to hang onto for maybe too long....like nap time. zoe is 5, and i still make her have nap time. now, most days it ends up being rest time/read books or color. BUT occasionally i will find her asleep in action...and i'm glad that i still hang on to nap time!
'
how does one fall asleep like this? this def. is a skill passed down from bart.
and how can i possibly ask this sweetie to let go of her beloved Manny? sheesh, Manny is like family to us. been there through it all! knows all our family secrets. heehee. i had to throw that in! :)
but seriously, is it so bad to let my 5 year old hang on to a stuffed animal? look how LOVED this thing is!
and every time i see zoe holding manny, my mind goes back to this:Manny
and i say its ok to hang on to some things in life. because we're forced to grow up too fast. and i certainly don't want zoe to grow up any faster than she already has!
I'm so glad we hung on to these big boxes b/c we got a week's worth of entertainment out of them. That required letting go of my clutter free living room. The one room that is ALWAYS in tip top shape JUST in case someone drops by unannounced. I know there are others out there that do the same thing!
And sometimes I have to let go of the rules. The rule: Don't pick up Jude and transport him from one room to another. Yep, that one was clearly broken. He went from being on one side of the house to the other under Zoe's "watch".
But how sweet it is to see all 3 kids together on their own.
And the biggest thing for me that I'm still working on is letting go of the "To Do" lists and actually playing with the kids. So hard for me to truly engage with my kiddos every day when I know how much stuff there is to get done.
But these smiles
and messy rooms
are worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment