What you see is what you get!

At any given time if you were to walk into my house you might see: toys spread from wall to wall, dishes on the counter, crumbs on the floor, clothes in a laundry basket either folded or waiting to be folded, a small garbage can of diapers, kids running down the hall or around the table, sometimes you’ll hear screaming, crying or laughing.  You might see and hear all of this and think to yourself “what does this lady do all day?”.  Well, I’ll tell you.  Toys spread all over means I played with my kids.  Dirty dishes and crumbs on the floor means I fed my kids, probably a few times.  Baskets of clothes means I keep my family dressed in clean clothes.  A garbage can of diapers means I change diapers all day long.  Kids running around means they are learning and allowed to play.  The sounds you hear bring joy to my life but does make conversation difficult which is why I don’t call you unless it’s nap time or evening.  If it’s 1PM or 8PM you’ll find the toys have been put away, the dishes are done, and the house is quiet.  You still might see baskets of laundry but that just means I’m still working on it.   If it’s 8AM or 4:30PM you might find the TV is on.  This doesn’t make me a bad Mom, just a Mom that needs a few minutes to get breakfast ready for 4 hungry mouths, or enough time to put dinner together.

This is not unique.  I’m sure there are many other Moms nodding their heads in agreement.  It feels good to put it in writing, so that one day I’ll look back and remember what it was like when the triplets were almost 2 and Travis was 9.  My hope is that one day I can look back and smile, realizing that every stage has its challenges and that we grow into those challenges for a reason.  I look back at writings, video and pictures of the “early months” with the triplets and I don’t miss those days.  But I would love to go back and be the person who comes into the house just to hold the babies!

This is my “today” and I will do my best to enjoy what I have, knowing that it will be over all too quickly and that someday I’ll be longing to be the person who sits down to play & read with the kids.