Monday, December 9, 2013

The best kind of busy

This season of my life is so incredibly sweet that sometimes, in complete awe, I just have to stop and look around. I want to remember it all. 

The past few years have been a whole lot of busy, busy, busy, rush, rush, rush. Working 50+ hours a week, one or two grad classes a semester, summer sessions, and summer school mixed with Jeff's 60+ hour work week and both of his baseball teams, while still balancing family and home life. Sometimes it felt like we were just getting through the week then slogging through the weekend, and for what? In no way will I say that my life didn't have purpose, because it always has, in so many ways, but my purpose has completely changed. 

I have always given so much of myself to my students, throwing myself into my school work and taking too much of it home with me, physically and mentally. But now, as I find myself going into my third month away from the classroom, I have found a new purpose. If I'm being honest, as much as I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom, part of me wondered if I would feel lost without my students, my creativity, the energy of the classroom. I always knew that being a mother was the ultimate goal in my life but in a society that seems to glamorize a busy, overworked lifestyle, I wondered if staying home with my baby would set me apart, even if it is only for a season.

And yet, I am busy. My life is full. It is rewarding. But most days, I don't get dressed until after noon time and when I glance in the mirror, I see that my hair is ten kinds of crazy, my shirt is all sorts of stretched out and stained from being pulled and spit on, and good Lord, my pedicure, if you can call it that, is in dire need. I always felt so accomplished with a good pedicure but I guess my tune has changed. 

Some days, when Jeff gets home from work, I see him glance over at the sink, which is still full, or at the dozen dog toys strewn across the floor, and at my coffee cup still sitting next to me while Ellen is on at 4:00, and I know what he's thinking. Still, as I look down at my daughter, who is nuzzled up to me, filling her belly and looking into my eyes, I know that the day's greatest accomplishment is that 12 pound bundle of love sitting in my lap, smiling, happy, healthy. Even when it doesn't look like it from the outside, I am busy all day. Rocking, shushing, snuggling, singing, swaddling, kissing, changing, reading, walking, kissing, bouncing, tummy-timing, and more kissing. I am so busy. My life is so full. It is so rewarding. 

I don't ever want to lose the person I was before I was someone's Mommy; the person who was showered and out the door by 6:30am and could get 25 kids converting fractions and loving it by 8:00am, but in this short, sweet season, I want to enjoy my new busy. When I feel flustered trying to switch the laundry, take out the trash, wipe down the counters, sweep the floor, so that it looks like I "did something", I realize that I am "doing something" all day long. And on the best days, I am showered and dressed, using my teacher voices to read stories, with the hum of the dishwasher and washing machine in the background, a tired dog at my side and a happy baby in my lap. 

If I don't get to return a phone call, or update my blog, or check the mail, it will still be okay. If I don't get to the dishes or put away the laundry, it will be there tomorrow. At this point, I don't know how long I will get to be home all day with my sweet baby, being the only one who can meet her needs. She will only be this little once and I know that I will blink and be back in the classroom, up late preparing lessons, rushing to get dinner on the table so I can post online for a grad class. For now, I will enjoy being the best kind of busy I can be, because I know too well, that babies don't keep.



Mother, O' Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth.
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.


Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek - peekaboo.
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo.
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.
~ Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

10 comments:

  1. LOVE LOVE LOVE this post!!!! I am soo excited for you and your new normal. You won't ever loose the person you use to be, you are becoming a better you!! Your time with Noelle is priceless and I am oh so jealous that you get to stay at home with her as long as you do!! Enjoy it sister as I am sure this time will fly by!! XoXo

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great post!!! & something I totally needed today. Like you said, in today's world, it's as if we never do enough. When we don't have upcycled furniture or the perfect Christmas display on our mantel, fresh cookies baking in the oven and attempting at least one DIY project a day we feel like we are not doing enough. I was just complaining because no matter what I do I still have laundry to fold or dishes to do. Who has time to do all this stuff?! Maybe I'm just REALLY bad at managing my time! Sometimes I try to remind myself to SLOW down. I won't miss the dirty dishes, the unfolded laundry or unmade beds. But I will miss those precious days when all I do is snuggle up with Savanna. Thanks for the reminder! xo

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful post! I will be a mother in March for the fist time and I'm planning on quitting my job and stay at home with my daughter full time. I'm excited and worried at the same time since this will be the first time EVER I don't go to school or work. Your post was great and helped me to feel better about my decision!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Absolutely the best thing I have read today! This is what ever new mom is going through and it's the best thing in the world! Being a mom is the best new busy you can be!
    I cry everyday leaving Will and I get nothing done in the evenings after work because I want to soak up every second with him! Enjoy your sweet baby girl!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh how I love this! It's amazing HOW much you really are doing, even when you look around and see that nothing has been done :) Today is Mia's first birthday (not sure how that's possible) and I look back and wish I would have let the house sit in rambles a little longer so that I could snuggle my baby a little more! The time goes too fast! Before you know it, cleaning the house while taking care of baby AND getting ready for the day will be easy peasy. But then the pressure of having everything done is back... so come back to this post often and remember that these days go by WAY too quickly!

    ReplyDelete
  6. OH MY GOODNESS! This is absolutely perfect!!!!!!!!! And so true!!!!! You keep doing what you're doing mama!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. As I am in the process of deciding whether or not to stay at home with my kiddos I appreciate this post SO much. I want to stay home with them and I think it will be best for our family. But, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid of losing "me" or feeling like I have a purpose. Obviouisly I will have a purpose...but I feel like I'd forget that staying at home and loving my babies is a big job and a more important job than keeping the floor clean :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Newest follower, love your positive outlook!!! Keep on loving that sweet baby girl!!!

    wordsaboutwaverly.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I really have a hard time feeling like if I don't get to something right then, it will be okay. I like to do everything immediately. Sometimes it annoys me, and I wish I could just go with the flow a bit more. I'm sure it's even more important when you have a kid.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi name twink! Can't WAIT to see pics of Noelle's first VDay! :) Miss seeing you around here!

    ReplyDelete