Messy house = Lots of Love

Do you think my kids will measure my love for them by how dirty our house is? I sure hope so.  If not, somebody please impress upon them that having a messy house means I'm a good mom.  I recently came across this quote, for the second time in the last few months. 

"Good moms have sticky floors, messy kitchens, laundry piles, dirty ovens and happy kids."

Goofy. And yes, her hat is on inside out.

The first time I didn't think much of it.  A good excuse for being lazy maybe?  But this time I thought about it a little more.  And maybe I saw it in a new way because of a blog I had just discovered called Hands Free Mama. (I'll probably be writing more about this later.) The main thing I take away from it (the blog and the quote) is to live in the moment with my kids. They are growing and changing so fast if I get too caught up in other things - like cleaning my house, checking items off my to-do list, texting and checking social media - I'm going to miss all the fun and great things they have to offer right now. And maybe even miss knowing my kids. I get a little choked up when I think about that possibility.

Peek-a-boo!

Now mind you, I really do try to keep up with some of the housework. I don't want my kids living in complete filth after all.  I really hate having dirty dishes in the sink, laundry must be done, somebody's gotta buy the groceries and cook a little so we can eat and with a dog and a one-year old it's pretty necessary to vacuum at least twice a week. Ok, it should really be done every day but I'm pretty happy if I get to it twice.  But I'm trying to keep my number one priority of being a stay-at-home mom as being a mom, not a house cleaner, amateur photographer (this one is hard because I love taking pictures of my kids, especially with my new camera and I want to record everything so we can hang on to the memories), chef, blogger, etc.  Afterall, spending more time with my kids is why I wanted to stay home in the first place.

Sometimes I feel like I should be able to do it all. But the only thing I really need  to do is take care of my kids. And I need to remind myself that what I really want is to be the best mom, not the best at everything (or anything else for that matter). Like they always say (whoever "they" is), "Jack of all trades, master of none."

So, to quote another pinterest post I saw recently, "please excuse the mess, we're making memories here." And if you want to come to our house any time in the next oh, seventeen years, you should come to terms with the fact that it will probably be at least a little bit messy.  I finally have. Or at least I'm working on it.