Saturday, December 6, 2008

Quit trying to squeeze it all it!!

Sage advice from a harried momma of 4, going on 5:

YOU CAN NOT DO IT ALL!!

And certainly not in one day.

If you have many young children, quit trying to squeeze "normal" activities into your already brimming life. There is honestly only so much you can fit in around all the diapers, potty trips, dishes, laundry, organizing, training, more laundry, finding the missing sippy cups and binkies, wiping down tables, wiping off faces, preparing, cooking, baking food and then cleaning it all up again, teaching your children how to read, how to add, how to tie their own shoes and how to pour their own glass of milk..................

and I am LITERALLY just scraping the surface here.

There will be days when basic meals getting fed to dirty children is a great accomplishment. There will be days when it seems as though your children have never been disciplined a second in their short lives - even though you KNOW that's not true! There will be days when no one else seems to understand why you can't 'get it all done' and get it all done *better*. So be it. What does God think? What does God see?

I'm trying to save you some stressed-out times here. Seriously, don't push yourself, don't push your kids, don't stress out your family. You will have time for all that extra stuff soon enough. Soon (yes, it's soon) you won't have to wipe chubby cheeks and the kids will have been taught how to do their own laundry. Soon enough you won't have those sweet little clothes to wash, dry and fold anymore (nor no one to fit into them).

*deep breath*

It's been a long day. It's been a long weekend. And it's only early afternoon on Saturday.
*deep sigh*


**I needed this advice, this blog, more than anyone right now....

9 comments:

Kenni B said...

The whole time I was reading this entry, I was asking myself, "Is she listening to her own advice?"

Just keep swimming Sis. You're a great Mom and partner to my Brother.

Anonymous said...

swimming? sometimes all you can do is tread water, and tread and tread and--anyways I am glad you do read and follow your own words-or at least try to. BTW-I always thought os Micah as a boy's name. Good luck

Mary said...

Good grief this just about made me cry. It is so true. My youngest is 13. Those baby-toddler-little kid days were soooo much easier. How is miss them. TO all you young mommies out there; sing praises to God as you crawl around under the restaraunt table retrieving the binkies. Breathe prayers of thanks when you realize you went to the grocery store with baby spit-up all down your back from burping your little one over your shoulder for hours that day.

It will be over in the blink of an eye.
That's why I love your blog Lori, because you already know this and live your life accordingly. I wish I would have realized how quickly time was going to pass when I had young children.
Now all I have left to write about on my blog is my cats. These days my dd13 would DIE if I wrote about her.
Live your life! ANd take lots of pictures.

Mary in TN

Sarah said...

You are such an awesome mom, Lori. You are making memories with your kids that will last a lifetime, don't worry about "getting everything done"! By the way, love the name Micah, but only for a boy. :)

Unknown said...

Y'all are *way* to kind - trust me - I need to be reminded of how quickly my little ones are growing up OFTEN!! I can easily get caught up in the day to day "stuff" than threatens to take over. We all need these reminders, eh?

I pray God gives me the wisdom to love and nurture these babies while I have them. Like y'all said, before you know it....

God bless your day today - come on, go hug your babies. You know you want to~~
Lori

Unknown said...

ugh..."too" kind...I need an edit button for my own comments....
~L.

Anonymous said...

I needed to read this today. Thanks. I came down here almost in tears because all I have done to day is feed people in between driving them to school and gymnastics and then back to school. Ugh. And now it is time to make dinner. Oh, and did I mention that the house is still a mess and only half the dishes done and I need to plan out storytales for tomorrow? Ugh. See you soon.

brooke

Unknown said...

Today was a "do nothing much" day. Mondays usually are...I don't know if that is in every ministry family, but it sure is true for us!

Those are the days you just have to pray through - seriously. You feel like you've done *nothing*, yet you just KNOW that's not true.

I'll see ya tomorrow....maybe well-rested?!?
~Lori

Anonymous said...

Oh my! Soon enough is right!!! They grow up too fast, WAY WAY too fast!!! My baby girl now has 2 of her own baby girls!! Just yesterday I was taking my babies home from the hospital and now they are 24 & 21?? What happened??? Oh, I blinked! LOL

Looks like you have a good focus!