Taking it slow

Between all the sickness and travel that has been going around our house I was looking forward to this week. Starting summer over again, getting the house back together, laundry done, cleaning, yard work, bags to cut.

Today I realized that it just isn’t going to happen and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

This is not going to be the summer of the great yard, total organization, or clean house. As I looked around the house today I was completely overwhelmed. There were 6 kids running around- well one wasn’t running, she was just fussing- a TON. The laundry was stacked high, the yard is a mess, the dishes in the sink. I felt this huge let-down feeling. I stared at the pile of Legos on the floor, the dog hair rolling across the wood floors, the pile of cloth diapers waiting to be washed.

But then I realized that I just need to slow down, delegate, and let some stuff go. Fortunately I have a great back-up for the biz, and she has saved my life this Spring/Summer. We are in good shape there.

But the house and such, well no back-up around. But that’s ok. Eva is only going to be this small once. It is ok to hang out on the screened porch and rock her all day on the swing if I have to. She has been fussy the last few days. Her dr. thinks she may be teething already! She wants to be held. She wants to chat. She wants to chew on my finger. I want to let her.

And so I did. And then she finally fell asleep and I got one boy to clean up the Legos. I sent another boy and friend off to ride bikes. I got another boy in front of a movie with a big bowl of popcorn as his mood was horrible due to lack of sleep from playing non-stop the last two days. I washed the diapers, and put them in the sun to dry. I folded two baskets of laundry. She woke up a little later and we went to the store for dinner supplies.

I felt better. I feel better. I have lowered my expectations. I need to spend some time nurturing some little people. My goals for the summer have changed and all is well.