A few weeks ago a lady messaged me and said something like "You seem to have it all together. I have 3 kids too and I feel like a mess." At first I just laughed at how I wish she only knew.......and then I felt sad.
Because of course it looks like everything is great. She sees my highlight reel.
I take pictures of my kids when they are dressed cute and we are heading somewhere. Not when they are in mismatched clothes and have uncombed hair and dirt on them from playing outside. I pick the best Instagram filter possible to make me look better - who doesn't?
I post picture when we are all smiles and when I have something good to share.
But that's only 10% of my life.
And the other 90% of life is good but there are a lot of messes. And I want to share the good because that's what I want to remember but I don't want anyone getting the impression that my life is all shiny and happy. I think when you scroll through social media -that's what you see. And you might start to think everyone has a sparkly house and perfect kids and they are all balancing life way better than you.
So to be transparent - let me tell you about my day yesterday. Now these are not REAL problems. I know people are struggling with LIFE altering issues and hard things and it's all relative of what is hard and what is not. But I just want to say that I feel like I'm just barely treading water most days. Like I'm spinning plates on sticks and they could all crash at any moment.
I'm wondering if any of you feel the same way?
Will Holden went about 4 nights where he didn't sleep. He was getting up for hours on end and screaming (I think I finally have narrowed it down to dairy bothering him and did some adjusting and he slept last night! Praise God - I'm a new woman today!) When I don't get a lot of sleep - I'm not my best (to put it mildly). I got up late yesterday because I was exhausted and kept hitting snooze. So I was racing around getting the kids ready for school. The girls were fighting their daily fight over whose hair I was going to do first (WHY DO THEY CARE????) and I sort of lost it. I finally get Harper to school and race home to try and get ready for a luncheon we had at church. I look over and Dawson is drooling huge globs of mucus and clearly has a bad mouth infection. The school calls and Harper's hearing aids aren't working. So I have to hurry and get up there before I can go to my luncheon. I put Will Holden in the pack and play for a few minutes so I can go to the bathroom without him knocking over furniture. I come back and he's covered in blood (no idea what happened but I guess he busted his lip in the pack and play) and we need to get out the door.
I feel like a total disaster.
I go to the luncheon and then pick up Will Holden from the nursery where he's wearing no pants because guess who forgot to pack extra clothes and he also didn't have any diapers in his bag because I had laid them on the kitchen counter and they didn't make it to the bag. I pick up Harper from school and take all 3 kids and Dawson to vet for appointment.
All that to say - NO, I do not have it all together. I have a pile of laundry in my bedroom chair. I have weeds in my flower beds that need to be pulled. I have closets that are begging to be organized and I just can't find time in the day. Well - I can find time but it's about 9:30 and I'm usually so tired by then I just collapse.
Being a mom is hard work and the greatest experience in the world. If anyone tries to tell you they have it all together - they are LYING! Or have a lot of help. Or meds.
If you are in the area - we are having a wonderful conference on mothering. Mothering conferences usually seem to be geared towards just young moms but we are covering as many aspects of mothering as we can because we want women of all ages and stages of life to come. There are twelve breakouts on everything from parenting young kids to adults to parenting your own parents. There are session for single moms and step moms and special needs moms. Almost all sessions are led by Christian counselors or professionals. There will be two main sessions led by two Christian counselors and it will be GOOD!
You can get more info at www.tangibletruthministries.com and register for the event.
It's NEXT Thursday and we would love to have you and for you to bring a friend!
I'm also giving away TWO tickets on my instagram today!
