Embracing A Messy Lifestyle

Parenting is crazy & messy, but so rewarding & beautiful at the same time. Before I became a mom, I was obsessed with everything being in its designated place, b ut now, the house is just messy! In a nutshell, I was a control freak!

Motherhood has simply forced me to choose between my sanity and a model lifestyle.Guess what…sanity won! I have come to realize very quickly through motherhood is that I can only control my reaction. We can’t force kids into doing what they don’t want to do.This got me thinking more on the parenting side about what matters? Does the messy room with toys matter, does the kitchen sink with dirty dishes matter or does the time taken to play catch, hide&seek or listen about their day for an hour with your child matter when you return from work?

After I thought about it, I realize there are 2 kinds of mess, the literal and the figurative..

First, let me share the literal in my household and it goes like this:

My toddler leaves her trademark in every room, be it her toys, her books, the contents of my kitchen cupboards and I just don’t care as much as I used too…people can judge when they visit and I don’t care.The house is clean but just untidy!

I choose to spend time with my little girl, it’s ok to have my shoes scattered around the house for a few hours.At the end of the day, we sing a clean up song and she puts my shoes back into the closet; it’s ok for her to pull out the wooden spoon and mini frying pan out the kitchen cupboard so she knows she is part of the cooking journey while I cook because we will wash up together and she will pack it away.

Embrace the mess and turn it into an experience and adventure!

Now, the figurative sense goes like this:

I went through the postpartum tears for random reasons, I was in zombie mode until Mckenzie weaned off the breast, and now we are reacting to toddler meltdowns. The mess of not having time to speak to your best friend who lives in another province and not one day goes by without you taking a moment to think of her but not enough time to pick up the phone to send a message or give her  call just to say hi and how are you? The mess of you and your partner being exhausted and can only hold onto distant memories of the time you could share dinner over candlelight and a glass of wine because all you can do now is tag team to ensure you eat a warm meal…BUT remember this mess is now and it will pass BUT your child needs you to be happy and be present, NOT A PERFECT HOUSE OR PERFECT PARENTS!

Embrace it, laugh at it, accept it so you can kickass at this messy lifestyle!