the Mulf herd: May 2015

Let's talk about how toddlers demand 99.9% of your time. I never used to understand when moms would say things like, they were "busy" or how they were spending their whole day picking up after their kids. I would think how on earth could you be busy? You stay home and you have X amount of kids? And what could you possibly have to clean up all day? If you just leave the toys out the whole day, you only have to clean them up once, right? *I'm cringing as I write this* Please forgive my naïve brain!! I GET IT NOW! I didn't even know it was possible for my house to get so messy. And I have ONE. CHILD. Like what the heck is up with peanut butter and jelly being crusted onto the legs of my table or squished along the panels of my blinds??? And clearly I had no idea that a one-year-olds idea of "playing with a toy" looks much less like pulling a doll out of a toy box and much more like finding old food crusted to the bottom of a dirty shoe, or shoving electrical cords into her slobbery mouth.

Next point. Nap time. At our house, nap time is indefinite. (And oh. so. precious.) Which means that every morning when I wake up to the sound of my daughter screaming at me to come and remove her from the prison which is her crib, I instantly have to decide which basic task of living is worth attempting and which ones can wait until nap time (which would also mean foregoing something else, like working on stuff for my book business, or fulfilling my calling, or writing in my neglected journal, or sending those thank you cards I've been meaning to send for weeks, or paying the bills that are stacked at the end of the counter, or making a grocery list, or working on our family photo albums, or... yeah... you get the picture).

For example... do I:

A) Stick her in the tub with me while I shower, trying to avoid soaking her in the face every time I move out of the way of the stream of water (because, how on earth do I shower otherwise???) or does the shower wait until nap time, which could, quite possibly be at 2 pm, which means anything I was trying to accomplish before the afternoon has already hit would have to be done with stringy hair and sweaty pits? Hmm.

B) Forego the shower and any attempt at leaving my house and attack the piles of laundry and get the dishwasher running while the babe is clawing at the back of my legs, or pulling every dish out of the washer just as I turn my back after putting it in?

Or, C) My personal go-to--get overwhelmed by the thought of even having to do ANY of these things and instead sit in my PJs with my hair tossed in a pile on top of my head while I sit and watch my child bulldoze through my living room and kitchen, demolishing everything in her path before moving on to continually climbing up the stairs that she can't climb down on her own, expecting me to come and get her while carrying this bowling ball err growing child I've got shoved inside my shirt?

This is the dilemma that I face every morning and we haven't even grazed the surface of meal time. (Or exercise... Is that a thing that moms do? I just remembered that even existed.) So if you, like pre-baby me, are thinking: I don't even get it. It's not that hard. Then please come to my house and I will enlighten you on the dysfunctional nature of my life right now!!!

I need an intervention!

That being said, here are some pictures from my sweet Maisey girl's birthday party... Let's just say that I think this was my first and last attempt at throwing a Pinterest-inspired extravaganza. Time and money? I don't have enough.

Notice the really cool streamers in the background that looked more like a mess than a decoration...