welcome to my world

A conversation with some girlfriends a few days ago inspired me to write this post.  And then I read my friend Erin's recent blog post, and that inspired me to write this post tonight.  Although it could potentially ruin my 'reputation' or someone's idea of who I am, I thought what the heck...after all, this blog is about journaling mine and my family's life as we journey through it, and this is our life as we know it today.

As I was telling someone recently what I'm about to share with you, she was surprised and never would have guessed this about me.  And then someone recently asked me how I manage being a wife, a mom of two (almost 3 yr old and a 1 yr old), running a household, all while working full time.  She said, "I don't know how you do it."  A little disclaimer before I go on.  I realize that for some, that doesn't seem like a lot.  I know that there are people out there that have much more on their plate than me.  Trust me...I get it.  I'm the one saying to them, "I don't know how you do it."  We all have our limits and what we can handle.  And I'm sure everyone thinks that they could be doing much more.

So my answer was simply..."I don't."  I don't do it all and for the most part, I don't want to do it all.  Well, I sort of do.  I'd like to.  I really would.  But it is what it is.

Here goes it.

This is my living room right now.  And to be honest, this is actually a little bit better then what it usually looks like.  I We spent the majority of our weekend cleaning up, and it's only Tuesday.  This is our life as we know it.

This is my clean kitchen.  I bet that's not your idea of a clean kitchen.  But these days, it works for us.  This is our life as we know it.

This is our dining room table.  Yes, we still eat at this table.  The clutter invites us to join them every night, and we happily accept.  This is our life as we know it.

Here's where you're going to disown me as a friend, and may not ever come over to my house (again).  I mopped swiffered my floors this weekend.  This was the second (hoping that if it's typed smaller, you won't really get the magnitude of what that word means) time that has happened since we moved in to this house a little over a year and a half ago.  And the first time, my sister did it for me.  I do sweep every couple of days though (if that helps any).  We do A LOT of spot cleaning in this house.  This is our life as we know it.

This is our breakfast nook storage area with stuff still sitting there from the garage sale we had in July.  Yep, I said July.  What's that you say?  "Awful, terrible, how could you?"  Trust me, I know.  What are you going to do with me?  This is our life as we know it.

My bathroom is actually clean right now, but normally it would have dirty laundry all over the floor and stuff all over the counters.

My side of the bed would have a basket of clean clothes that never got put up next to it, but I cleaned that up over the weekend.

This is our life as we know it.

And it's ok with me.  I do get to the point where I've had enough.  Compared to others, I would say it takes a while to get to that point.  But it happens.  When I've had enough, I can't take any more clutter and everything gets cleaned up.

To me, a house like this means that we are busy.  We are busy working hard and earning a living.  Working hard to reach our personal and financial goals.  We are busy spending quality time with our girls.  We are busy creating memories.

Some of the clothes on the living room floor are CeCe's from when she wanted to change into her princess dress so she could dance around the living room with daddy playing "dancing with the stars."  Some of the shoes on the floor are from CeCe putting her "big sister" shoes on Vivi and playing dress up.  If there was a table set up in our breakfast nook, it would probably keep them from being able to play "Ready, Set, Go" where CeCe and Vivi run races from the laundry room into the kitchen.  It's the cutest thing because Vivi always turns short and gets a head start the other way.  She just learned how to 'high five' so she always stops to give a high five to me as she 'runs' by.  Her little legs move so fast!  Daddy's got some runners in the making :)

There is a story like this for (just about) everything that's out of place, and that's what I try to focus on.

I'm reading The five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman, Ph.D and Ross Campbell, M.D.  It's a book study we're doing at work.  I've only read about 40 pages so far, but it has opened my eyes up to what should be and is important in our life, as we know it today.  And that is making sure our girls' love tanks are full.  This book, along with every time CeCe repeats back to us what we tell her, in that sassy almost 3 year old voice..."You're not listening," "Be quiet, I said," "5 more minutes," has helped me remember that we are our children's role models, and they do listen to what we say and how we say it and the way we express these love languages.

I am going to repost a quote from Erin's blog that she reposted from another blog that truly does say it perfectly and hits home to me...

"Here's the thing: Fitting it all in is like putting a square peg in a round hole. And I like to assume that everyone is doing the very best they can. That everyone loves their kids. That everyone chooses to prioritize in a way that works best for them."


And right now, this is what's working best for us.


I really hope this doesn't keep you from being friends with us and/or coming over.  Actually, if you really do worry care for us, you'll invite yourself over, because we do clean up before we have guests.  I hate to admit it, but it's one of our only motivators.  Or you could hire a housecleaner for us.  That would be nice too ;)