This is usually how my house looks. Dirty dishes on the counter, my toddler's room is littered with toys and clean laundry. We almost always have a basket of clean laundry folded but waiting to be put away. I make sandwiches for lunch (or leftovers) and dinner is rarely cooked by 6:30. As a Stay-at-Home-Mom, I often feel like I am failing. My house should be cleaner, I should be cooking things for lunch, we should eat less take-out. Other moms seem to have it together, a spotless home, hot lunches, and they are always dressed and have brushed their hair and applied make-up.
Let's be real though, Staying Home is hard. Society has this idea that Stay-at-Home-Moms should be able to keep a spotless house and cook gourmet meals without a problem. That Staying home is some how the "lazy way". That it's not a real job.
My day is spent chasing my busy toddler, cleaning the house, doing laundry, trying to get my homework done for the online college I am attending and trying to remember to take meat out of the freezer for dinner. All of these things would not take that long, however, this doesn't take into account for tantrums, and the fact that children are tornadoes. Seriously.
I put the toddler's laundry in his dresser and as I put them in there, he pulls them out onto the floor. I pick his toys out, he dumps them out again and scatters them all over the house. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich he had for lunch has been smeared all over every surface he can reach, and the full tissue box that I had hidden is now empty, and the tissues are everywhere in little tiny pieces. And that's a good day. Being a mom is wonderful and frustrating. I love staying home and hate it all at the same time. By the time hubby has gotten home, I have cleaned the house 3 times, and you can't even tell, because it looks just as bad or worse than when he left that morning.
I have gotten to the point that a few dishes on the counter really won't kill anyone. I take more moments to forget the mess, and join my son on the floor to play with cars. Or pass the ball back and forth, or read his tractor book for the 50th time in a row. The house will always need to be cleaned. Laundry will always need to be done. But your kids will only be this age once. You are holding them for the first time, and then you blink and they are walking and talking. They don't care if you are in yoga pants and rocking the messy pony-tail. They don't care if the house is spotless. They just want to hang out with their mama. When they are grown, they will remember the time they spent with you.
So say it with me: MY HOUSE IS A MESS AND I AM NOT ASHAMED!
