Mariposa Kisses (aka Dianne's Blog)

The thing about family life is that it's totally chaotic most of the time. I'll give you a taste of my last twenty-four hours. Full sink of dishes, like even when it's empty, it's still full. So much laundry that I can hardly find the detergent in my laundry room to wash all the towels, sheets, and clothes.

Turn twenty degrees to the left and you'll bump into my refrigerator. Total chaos...how do people keep all their bread loaves organized anyways? I end up with like ten bags, each containing the two end pieces. And another point of fridge contention is the way that apple juice and milk containers literally have some kind of mysterious drip system during the night. Even if we replace them every single day, they run out before the next morning. It's weird.

There are so many snacks and meals to prepare that I get tired just thinking of what I'm going to make the kids for breakfast and it's almost 10:20AM as I write this (poor kids are starving to death...gotta love summer). They're young and resilient though, so I'm sure they'll be fine. In fact, I'll just stretch it out a bit longer and serve them some brunch instead. :)

Take a visual of my morning. 5:50AM, my sweet husband tears off the pee-pee sheets from our daughter's bed while I take off her wet clothes. 6:30AM, I slither my way down to write for a little bit while my laptop hums quietly amidst the temporary silence.

Then, I gather the ingredients to make my hubby's breakfast and to pack his lunch. While sipping my medium roast sanity-saver (aka coffee), I glance through my family room where our area-rug is still drying due to a pee-pee accident from the night before. It's a good thing it's got a swirl pattern on it. Aren't solids the worst?

Chaos is so adventurous though; you've gotta love it. Stepping into the kitchen has never been so exciting; I look down to find a plethora of small shards of glass blanketing the tile floor. This was the result of the previous night as well, when one of my kids grabbed the salt jar against my will during dinner and subsequently dropped it all over the floor. I guess my sweeping job was a little sub-par, but it was late, so I can't really be blamed.

A few hours later, my youngest child floods our bathroom with toilet water. Thankfully, the soothing sound of rushing water was so anomalous that my ears shot up like a basset hound and I salvaged the situation before water flushed out into the family room. I can't fault this daughter for her enthusiasm; she's like an Olympic toilet flusher who thinks that somehow if she jiggles the handle faster and more fervently, the toilet will flush more effectively. You get the picture; it's total chaos.

If you're a parent, you can totally relate. I mean, I don't even have to describe my upstairs because you're like, "Stop, I get it. I can picture it." So, my question for you is this: "How do we survive this season of parenting chaos with any remnants of sanity by the end of the day?"

The answer is this: "Love your kids well." Even though I don't have time to read the ten best-selling parenting books collecting dust on my shelf, somehow I must be doing something right. My kids laugh a ton; they're all growing according to the doctor's charts. They're doing well academically and socially... and I'm having a ton of fun along the way. Sometimes I can't tell if I'm laughing or crying, but that could just be PMS.

I could give you something deeper than this little kernel of wisdom, but the truth is that I have to run and get my kids some breakfast before their stomachs cave in. Plus, my littlest is about to go potty again and knowing her... she's going to race into another flush-derby.

Share some of your funny parenting moments here. We'd love to hear from you. :)

Labels: chaos, family, kids, parents