After getting off work, picking Abby up, going by the grocery store and coming home to start dinner, I somehow managed (with the help of my 2 little girls) to totally destroy our kitchen in 3 minutes. After I turned to the stove to stir our soup, I looked up and saw this sight. It’s utter and complete chaos, but you know what it looks like to me? Happiness! Sure, I cringe at the thought of a dirty table, kids’ clothes strewn hither-and-yon, holiday wrapping all over the floor. I cringe even more thinking about the mess I’ll have to clean up after the kids go to bed. But you know what? Who cares? They’re only kids once. I’m starting right now on my resolution for 2008. I want to be a better Mom than I have been this past year. That’s a pretty lofty ideal, but I’m going to be specific. I’m going to focus less on the mess and more on the girls. I want to be more fun. I want to give more of myself and demand less of them. I want to focus more on playing and reading and baking cookies with them… and less on worrying about making sure they don’t make a mess. Toys are for playing with, kids are for playing with and Moms are for playing with. I want to have more “yes” days and less “no” and “don’t do that” days. Of course there will be some times that I can’t say “yes”, but I’m going to try to make it a habit instead of automatically saying “no”. I have 2 sweet little girls whom I love very much and I want to remember them at this very moment… as the fun, quirky little people they are. Heaven knows they grow up way too fast.
Speaking of “quirky”, Maggie was hiding in the cabinet earlier. Let’s see if you have as much trouble finding her as I did…
[...] than to ask about your 2008 resolutions. Do you have any? Please share. I boldly stated mine in an earlier post, but to reiterate it, I am going to print this out and keep it with me as a [...]