Mother's Day

I got breakfast in bed today and so far have been able to keep my feet up and watch the children play. We don't do a lot in our house to celebrate Mother's Day. I just plan on celebrating my children. They are the reason that I am a mother. For me, being a mother was such a driving force when I was younger that I was afraid I would never get the chance. Who would have thought that I would be so lucky to be expecting my 8th child any day now. Motherhood and parenting in general is challenging and difficult at times. I often have friends and even total strangers ask me how I do it. I am finding it really hard to answer this question. My home life and child raising situation isn't like most people's so I don't think they would understand that having at least 4 to 7 of the kids at home at all times is really not that hard. Two of my children (Danny and Connor) live with their dad most of the time and Annika goes to visit every other weekend. Being 13, Lyn is off with friends a lot. That leaves the little kids Evan, Eliot, and Ben home nearly all the time. Of course there are times when everyone is at home like on weekends and in the evenings. Our house is small. We have 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms. It is probably about 1100 square feet. We have a girls' room and a boys' room. We have more stuff than we need but I have had others say we don't have a cluttered house at all. If anything the clothes get out of control sometimes. We don't store a lot of food and the kids don't have a lot of toys even though Dad will argue that with me. We don't have a separate dining room and there are plenty of seating options in the eat-in-kitchen. I see that as just less rooms to clean. I guess it would be nice to have a bigger house but we have all we need. Now, where was I going with all of that? With a small house I don't spend all day cleaning. I spend my time just being a mom and a wife. My husband is a stay a stay at home dad. We are a team raising the kids. I work part-time so I can be there for my kids. I make my own schedule so I control when I am away from them. This works for us and we don't fight the natural consequences of things. If the kids are bored and fussy I change what we are doing. If they are getting on each other's nerves I try and engage them separately. I don't see changing diapers and doing laundry as chores to dread. I just see them as part of my day. Sometimes when a stranger who is obviously having a hard time parenting two children and unhappy with their life asks me how I do it I really want to just say "I am good at it and enjoy it so it is easy for ME.." That implies that they aren't good at parenting so I would never say that but sometimes it is a bit true. I honestly think some parents are just cut out to be parents. I am NOT cut out to be an accountant or a chemistry major. Each to their own and I hope everyone is able to enjoy their life (most days) as much as I am....