Balancing Act

My life is a balancing act.  Trying to balance all facets and keep everyone happy and meet all of their needs.  Some days I do it well, other days not so much. 

With six people and a dog living in our house I often feel pulled in many directions at once- sometimes quite literally if one child has one hand and another child has the other.  Oh and don't forget the baby crying at my feet... I have dreams of cloning myself.

Some days it can get quite overwhelming.  In the past I have been overtaken by the feeling of being overwhelmed and like I am not quite good enough at what I do.  I dislike feeling like that.  And I work hard to remind myself that making a mistake, or not being everything to everyone every minute of the day does not make me a bad mom/wife/friend/person.  It makes my a human being. 

Somethings I have learned to do when I feel not quite good enough:

Asking for help does not make me weak or less of a person.  As a mom I often feel like I have to do it all.  Especially as a stay at home mom.  I mean I am staying at home to take care of my family.  Who am I to say I need help with it?  but the truth is we all need help at times.  Being aware of that is healthy, not weak.

Get enough sleep, or at least as much as possible.  Staying up late to get everything done that didn't get done during the day is not always the best thing.  There are times when it needs to happen- like the day Madeline was out of uniforms for school- but many days the things really can wait 6 or 7 hours. 

Eat healthy.  I say this after a day where I ate every meal with a baby on my hip, eating as fast as I could before he could grab the plate or each bite.  But honestly, the days I eat well balanced meals are the  days I handle any kid of stress much more easily.

Breath.  When it all gets overwhelming I simply need to take a few breaths and try to restart.

And when all else fails, loud music can blare out the screams of Ben as he has his gazillionth meltdown of the day.  It is not my best technique, nor one I use frequently, but sometimes it is needed for a few moments.

 I'm not perfect.  I work hard to lose that feeling of being not quite good enough.  That is one of the reasons I love claiming that I am an average stay at home mom.