Before I had my daughter, the one thing I found hardest to understand about other moms were the moments when the mom would be holding her toddler and the toddler would be moving around like a seasoned trapeze artist. The mom is getting hit and kicked and punched and she's just carrying on her conversation like it's another ho-hum moment. I used to think, Just put her in the stroller/cart or Just make him sit still!

Well, now I have an 18-month-old and those words taste like revenge-laden animal crackers, thank you very much.

But I love it. I love every day. The mess-making, the time-outs, the giggles and the laughs, the bathtime and bottle-cleaning, diaper-changing and spin-swinging. It sounds dramatic and cliché to say I love every day, but it's completely true. Even the hard days, my first words in all my prayers are, Thank you. And at the end of every day when I clean my house, my joy compounds.

I like picking up the mess in my house because it reminds me of the LIFE in my house. A military house can get so quiet, we learn to appreciate the noise when they're around. There have been plenty of times when my house was lonely. Add in the fact that I almost didn't live to see this life I'm living, and the position of gratitude goes without saying. So now that I get to live my life with a spunky, sometimes-spastic toddler, a nervous-Nelly pup, and a big kid trapped inside a man's body, why would I complain? Why would I wish away this stage just to hit the next? Doesn't it all go fast enough? 

I don't want to wish it all way. I don't want to "can't wait until..." in every stage. Not only is she the only child I'll have, but what am I doing if I'm mothering but wishing it all away? What am I doing with my life if I'm wishing it away? There are enough people in this world who work much harder than I did to have the blessings in their home. 

So my joy compounds when I clean my family's mess because I'm happy to have the family that makes the mess.

Cliche? Sure.

Too simple? Maybe. 

A life I love? Absolutely.

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For the record, I didn't want every blog post to be about motherhood, especially when it sounds kind of froo-froo like this. I have many interests, and I generally don't love talking about motherhood. It turns too quickly into the shame game. But mothering takes up SO MUCH headspace, and I've got to dump it from time to time. Thanks for listening! ;)