Days are blurred over here and filled with lots of busyness. I had a reader recently ask how I do it all and the answer is… I don’t do it all. I have a dishwasher full of clean dishes that haven’t been put away for two days and a whole sink full of dirty dishes that have been there for two days because I haven’t put away the clean ones. I gave up vacuuming about 6 months ago and only get to that once a month. Thus, we have colored pencil shavings all over the place. Really. I have a huge pile of clean laundry sitting at the foot of my bed and just this morning Ben asked, “Do I have any clean white shirts or boxers?” My reply, “Um… sorry never had a chance to do the laundry. Plus, we are out of detergent.” My craft area looks like this again and our school table (as you can see above) is full of piles. The to-dos and mess list could go on and on over here.
Most of the day is spent doing school, changing diapers, feeding the baby baby, a whole lot of managing and a whole lot of referee-ing the big girls. We get cuddles in when we can, but there is also a whole lot of yelling (probably more on my end), and most times I get frustrated that I easily get frustrated. So really, I don’t do it all.
So when do I blog or have time to plan a dinner party? Well, all three big girls go to bed at around 7pm. 7:30 at the latest. That is my time to try and get things done. Now, sometimes things don’t always get done because baby baby might want to throw a hissy fit and well, there goes that, but on good nights, I get plenty done and still manage to go to bed around 11pm.
To anyone who thinks I am super mom, I most certainly am not. You don’t see the messes and the fits of anger that go on over here. When someone asks me how I am doing, my reply is, “I am crazy most of the time.” It is really only God who allows me to get through the daily messes cause if it weren’t for Him, I would be crying all the time! No joke.
Now, wish me luck because hopefully today I could at least get those dishes put away!
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Love the honesty! Whatever it is you end up doing, cleaning, teaching, playing or loving a baby, do it all to the glory of God. All the mommas out here in blog land can relate to this post. Trust me.
oh youre just too cute! of course we cant do it all, but we try, right?!?! you do well momma-
Love this post. You make the time for the important things and do that amazingly well. There's no doubt your home is filled with an abundance of love, learning, and creativity (and ok, maybe a few piles of laundry too).
Its always nice to see that we all have trouble doing it all – all the time 🙂
This is why I love you and your blog! because of your honesty. Keep up the good work!!
Oh sweet RubyEllen, you're just human.. don't be so hard on yourself, you're doing great!
Your days sound a lot like mine. People always ask how I “do it all” too, and I always tell them that I don't–something's gotta give! (P.S. We use RightStart Math too. My two 5yos are starting Level B–looks like we just did the same lesson you did this week!)
OH BUT YOU ARE SUPER MOM! Being a super Mom does not have to mean everything is perfect. You have TONS to juggle and you are trying your best. Their will always be room for improvement, but don't lose hope! Keep it up!
I love your honesty! Thanks for sharing. You're a super mom either way!!
thanks for being so real and open. some days when i'm doing a lot of yelling at my boys i wonder how i got here. i chose to stay home to look after them and then i'm just refereeing and shouting a lot! i know it's a phase but it feel a whole lot better to know other mums get to the same point!
i realised the other day that the grace of God is not simply sufficient for us in an only-just-covering-it kind of way, but in a super-abundant way, a bit like how when pouring custard on your pudding – it can get totally covered! (or maybe that's a british thing!) be encouraged! you're doing a fantastic job!
I love the credit you give to God.
Just yesterday, my car broke down..AGAIN…had to walk with 2 kids in the rain..missed a parent/teacher conference, missed teaching my own third grade Religion class, had to handle an enormous temper tantrum from one of my 4 children, all while my husband was out of town. And when I went to bed, I reflected on how I handled myself…and said a prayer of thanks. Because my ability to deal with yesterday was so clearly all on God. His graces pulled me through.
sounds familiar…
washed 3 loads of laundry last night…only because all three of our hampers were over flowing and my little miss didn't have any clean uniforms for school…still have a load sitting in the dryer and it probably won't be folded for a few days. i like to wait until they are super wrinkled 😉
just walked past a sink full of dirty dishes.
stayed up till midnight last night working on some things for my friend's baby shower that i'm hosting this saturday.
i don't even want to talk about the condition of my floors.
off to try to tackle a little bit of this disaster.
i've seen you at your best and at your yelling moments. trust me, you still are super mom to me! God gives you what you can handle and you certainly can handle it! yes, there are bad days, but that makes us pray harder, right? 🙂
you're doing great… and i have seen your “messy” house. your girls are a wonderful testimony to how you and Ben trust God. 🙂
love you!!
PS LET'S PLAY CUZ I HAVE A PRESENT FOR YOU!!!!! 🙂 i know you love gifts and i want to give it to you soon just in case you need to return/exchange it! 🙂
Your honesty is one of the things that makes you awesome! We must be living parallel lives…God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. We have a hard task but it's so worth it.
“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful” ~ Sigmund freud
Truly you will wish for these 'unorganised' days when your girls are much older, I wish I could go back to when my kids were tiny and enjoy them a bit more rather than stress about housework…they won't remember what the house looked like but they will remember the time spent with you…cherish each moment!
u are an inspiration for me!!!! you are super MOM!
i love how real you are! keep it up!
You are home with those babies! That's the most important thing you could do!
thank you, thank you, thank you! i often read your blog and feel like a bit of failure. i only have one baby, and it's still hard to find time to craft, cook and keep up with the housework. i really needed to hear this today:).
thank you SO much for this post, seriously. i only have one baby right now, but dream of having 4-5. many days recently i've found myself wondering if i'm really cut out for this job. man, it's so much tougher than i thought. i appreciate your honesty here…it is so refreshing and encouraging. thanks ruby!!!
So I am not the only one? Thanks for being so honest. I gave up homeschooling as I was going crazy and would surely end up in a mental institution and my son in foster care! Now my son is happy in school and I am happy at home taking care of my baby, and the last hours of the days with both kids around starting a chaos are good to remind me why I placed my son in school!
I wish I could come over and have a beer and a chat with you, and then help you. I HATE unloading the dishwasher, and really it only gets done if Josh has the time to do it before work. So our dishes pile up, our compost bucket overflows, and I celebrate if the clean laundry ever actually gets folded.
But, my baby is happy and hugged a lot, my family gets fed, Josh gets kissed, and we all sleep well at night, thanking God for our many blessings.
Go kiss those babies and that husband of yours! 🙂
Thanks for sharing this. It's comforting to know that I'm not the only mama who's struggling to organize the chaos daily. Some mothers just make it look so effortless! So thank you for your honesty.
By the way, our twins have arrived and our 2 year old has surprisingly been so loving and caring with them. It kinda reminds me how Soul is with Glow 😉 Anyway, that goes to say, our days have been quite blurry, as well. And my husband goes back to work next week…and I'm anxious and nervous! I don't know what I'm going to do!