Mega-pack
I think about the same things so often that I forget whether I've voiced them here or not, which I'm sure you've noticed and thank you for your generous hush-hush about my dementia-like redundancy. One of those things is that people think that because I have a lot of kids I: a. am really organized, b. am really patient, and c. have easy childbirth. It's funny, even though I walk in these shoes every day, I automatically assume the same things about other mothers of large families. For the record, I am none of these things, no matter how much I aspire to be. I have not yet attained, any of these things, nor do I see the attainment in the near future. In fact, I would dare say I'm rather scattered. Dale may beg to differ.
I always did have a big family mentality though. I remember counting the years when I got pregnant with Tre and lauding the speedy growth of our family at our young ages. I thought I was conquering a huge mountain by raising four kids so close together. (little did I know...) It was a whirlwind for a long time; so much so that I don't remember much of it. I remember being caught in my pajamas in the midst of a filthy house a few times, and I remember crossing the bridge to maintaining a clean house and cooking regular meals. It makes me sad sometimes when I think about it, because even though it felt like an eternity, the years flew by and now I have all these independent little people at every turn.
Let me just pause here to say, it freaks me out when I find myself saying the things "grown ups always say" from my memories as a child, things like, "You're getting so big!" of "Make sure you wash behind your ears!" And here, the days feel like years and the years pass like days. Life is such a wonder to me. It's just never what you expect, and then you turn out to be just like every grown up you ever knew!
Anyway, back to having a big family. I love it. I used to dream about the days when all the neighborhood kids would knock on my door. Today I was scrubbing a pot in the kitchen and there was a knock at the door. I waited for a long time to answer because I knew it was for someone else. When I finally dried my hands and opened the door, a tiny little teacup of a gal was standing there all by herself. With all the confidence she could muster she said, "Are the redheads there?" That's what we are to every kid in the neighborhood, and to some the "redheaded Brady bunch".
Other things about having a big family drive me crazy. Right now the thing that just about puts me over the edge is that every time I open this one cabinet, something falls out. It's not that it hasn't been cleaned out, because it was just days ago that I took everything out to reorganize it in hopes of eliminating the problem. But the real issue is that my kids can reach stuff now, and if they can't, they climb to reach whatever they want. Once they've reached said item, they use it and stick it back in, not where they found it, not where there's a convenient spot for it, but wherever it lands after the cabinet door is open. YEEEEOOOWWWW! It just makes me crazy. But like so many other things in my life, what is the point of blowing a gasket? I've already done that four times today over other things that just don't matter. I might as well just replace the item to where it belongs and let it go. LET IT GO. Whew. I guess I just needed to get that off my chest.
I always did have a big family mentality though. I remember counting the years when I got pregnant with Tre and lauding the speedy growth of our family at our young ages. I thought I was conquering a huge mountain by raising four kids so close together. (little did I know...) It was a whirlwind for a long time; so much so that I don't remember much of it. I remember being caught in my pajamas in the midst of a filthy house a few times, and I remember crossing the bridge to maintaining a clean house and cooking regular meals. It makes me sad sometimes when I think about it, because even though it felt like an eternity, the years flew by and now I have all these independent little people at every turn.
Let me just pause here to say, it freaks me out when I find myself saying the things "grown ups always say" from my memories as a child, things like, "You're getting so big!" of "Make sure you wash behind your ears!" And here, the days feel like years and the years pass like days. Life is such a wonder to me. It's just never what you expect, and then you turn out to be just like every grown up you ever knew!
Anyway, back to having a big family. I love it. I used to dream about the days when all the neighborhood kids would knock on my door. Today I was scrubbing a pot in the kitchen and there was a knock at the door. I waited for a long time to answer because I knew it was for someone else. When I finally dried my hands and opened the door, a tiny little teacup of a gal was standing there all by herself. With all the confidence she could muster she said, "Are the redheads there?" That's what we are to every kid in the neighborhood, and to some the "redheaded Brady bunch".
Other things about having a big family drive me crazy. Right now the thing that just about puts me over the edge is that every time I open this one cabinet, something falls out. It's not that it hasn't been cleaned out, because it was just days ago that I took everything out to reorganize it in hopes of eliminating the problem. But the real issue is that my kids can reach stuff now, and if they can't, they climb to reach whatever they want. Once they've reached said item, they use it and stick it back in, not where they found it, not where there's a convenient spot for it, but wherever it lands after the cabinet door is open. YEEEEOOOWWWW! It just makes me crazy. But like so many other things in my life, what is the point of blowing a gasket? I've already done that four times today over other things that just don't matter. I might as well just replace the item to where it belongs and let it go. LET IT GO. Whew. I guess I just needed to get that off my chest.
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