Making it Official

As if it weren't already obvious, I'm officially taking a blogging break.

It is really hard for me to do. There are stories I want to share, and friendships I want to maintain. But what it comes down to is this: It just doesn't seem right to be writing and reading about mommying, when my little boy is pulling at my arms, asking me to be mommy right now.

It won't be for long. And I'll pop in here and there. But I'm not going to have these guys with me for long, and during this time, when they especially need my attention, I've got to give it to them. And I need to release myself from the pressure I put on myself to keep this blog up.

When the kids look back on this period of time, and wonder why there aren't any stories or pictures, I hope I can say to them, it's because mommy was too busy playing with you, doing crafts, taking the time to adapt my chores so that you could help me, finding ways to involve you in preparing meals, jumping in rain puddles, making birthday cakes that you talked about for months afterward...

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I know you love these kids too... so I'll leave you with a couple stories.

Yesterday, KK said to me, "Mommy, I love you even bigger as Jesus."

I responded with some questions to clarify that she meant the size of Jesus, not more than Jesus (I'll omit the early teaching on idolatry that I did here).

She responded with a big grin and a giggle, "Mommy, I love Jesus even bigger as Jesus!"

If the first goal of parenting is for your children to know and love Jesus with all their hearts, and I believe it is, then, by the grace of God, I think we are on the right track with this one.

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JJ is at a particularly challenging age right now. He just turned two and is incredibly impulsive and reckless. He requires way more attention now than he ever has needed before.

See what I mean?

I have just discovered a way to increase the level of peace in our home: I get him to help me cook. I spend a significant amount of time preparing meals in a day, and was finding it was taking me hours to prepare the simplest meals, because of all the "interruptions" I was having to deal with, due to him not always being directly supervised. Though it takes some planning, and patience, including him with me in the kitchen actually takes less time than fixing all the problems he creates if I cook alone.

Here are some of the things that he likes to help me with:

- dumping small amounts of veggies at a time into the crockpot (I keep giving him whatever I've cut up between his trips from me, to the crockpot, and back)

- peeling the paper off cans, and throwing it in the recycling

- setting the table

- putting away silverware (if you've seen the facebook video, he actually tries to get them in the right place now, instead of just dumping the whole thing in!)

- handing me things to put away from the dishwasher

- putting stuff in the garbage for me

- sprinkling herbs and spices into a dish

I'm not always this patient with him, but I'm getting better at finding ways to include him in the things I have to do, and to leave the things that I don't have to do.

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When people ask me about staying home with the kids, is it worth the financial sacrifice, or the holding up my career, I always tell them that this time is short and I can't get it back.

It's true. And I have to continually be evaluating the way I spend my time, and the sacrifices that I need to make for the sake of maximizing these precious years with my children.

So, when I can find a way to fit blogging back into my life, instead of my life around my blogging, I'll be back. Pinky swear.