Welcome to my messy mom story. In order to highlight how my life has changed here are two of the most contrasting pictures I could find. A picture from my wedding and a picture from this morning.
The first picture was almost 9 years ago. It took half the day to get ready. My makeup was professionally done. My hair was professionally done. I was wearing a super expensive wedding dress and the most amazing shoes I have ever worn. Deliriously happy because I was marrying the love of my life and my best friend. Everything was clean, everything was tidy, and everything was totally put together. Someone was paid a lot of money to take professional photos to make sure that this amount of effort was documented. I looked smokin hot. Everything was perfect.
The second picture is from 8am this morning. Everyone had finally been fed breakfast and my 2nd grader was on the bus to school. I am wearing the shirt I slept in with no bra, fuzzy slipper, and a too big cardigan. No time to put any makeup on my face and with my hair quickly pulled up on top of my head, I happily posed for my demanding 5 year old paparazzi with my phone. There are no filters, no cropping, and all the mess is REAL. I would venture to say that I am equally happy in both pictures. I am still married to the love of my life and my best friend. Plus I now have three amazingly beautiful girls. I still look smokin hot. Everything is still perfect.
Both of these pictures show beauty. Convention dictates that the wedding picture is the beautiful one. A lot of times the “messy” one seems filled with more love and beauty than the wedding picture to me. The diapers on the floor are for my last tiny baby butt that needs to be cleaned. The maraca on the floor is because my 5 year old and my 18 month old decided to have a parade band. Next year that 5 year old will be in Kindergarten and the band will only have one member. All of the many toddler toys make my chubby baby girl scream with delight while singing and dancing to silly songs. Some people might just see messy toys all over the floor but I know the beauty that created this mess.
When did it become more important for a house to appear perfect rather than celebrate the giggles in creating the mess? Why does having toys on the floor mean a house is gross rather than kids that live there are enjoying their childhood?
Don’t misunderstand I love a clean house. Sometimes my amazing husband takes my 3 crazy girls to the park for half a day and I clean like a lunatic. For a few glorious hours my house looks perfect. Then my kids walk back into the house and 30 seconds later toys are everywhere, drinks are spilled, and crackers are stepped on. Instead of getting upset that all that work is for nought I have started to prioritize my children enjoying being children over appearances.
Having a messy house is never a bad thing; it should be celebrated. If you have a messy house it means it is loved by your whole family who lives there. The more MESS means the more LOVE! Learn to love the mess, see the beauty behind the chaos, and enjoy the ride.
You have no idea how much I needed this today. I was looking up real life mom pictures and everything that was coming up was put together, well-dressed, hair done make up perfect and today I am in my also, oversized cardigan, my tank top, no bra, no make hair not brushed and I just wanted to see normal. You are beautiful and I wish that when we are online we saw more normal stuff. Thanks for your content!
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