Weekly Mothering Challenge #2

Last week's mothering challenge to make "yes" my default response was certainly a challenge! I realized just how easy and often "no" can be. I felt like I made decent progress toward saying "yes" more frequently, but also noticed how quickly I fell back to "no," particularly if I was tired or frustrated. This is definitely a mothering challenge to keep tackling!

I hope you will join me again for this week's challenge, and share your thoughts and wisdom:

Mothering Challenge #2 - Leave the Dirty Dishes...

...or the laundry...or the crumbs on the floor...or the toys in the playroom... you get the idea. This is VERY challenging for me, as I really like a clean and organized home and find I can get easily irritated if the house gets too messy and there are too many chores piling up.

But I am realizing just how much I miss when I am overly focused on housekeeping. For example, the other night J was taking a long time to go to sleep, tossing and turning and chatting and stalling. As I lay in bed with him and the girls, I kept watching the clock, thinking about the dirty dishes in the sink, the laundry that needed to be put in the dryer, the floor that needed to be swept, and I could feel myself getting aggravated at this long, drawn-out bedtime.

Then I paused.

I recognized how lucky I was to be lying in bed, cuddling with my three sweet little people. I realized that when I look back at these early years, when I miss them and yearn for them, my memories won't be of dishes that didn't get done, but of the chance to stop and sing and snuggle.

So this week, I am going to make every effort to focus less on housekeeping and more on capturing these special moments with my children. And for inspiration, I am referring to this lovely poem as a reminder of what's truly important...