Multi-Tasking

Yesterday was kind of a crazy day. I found myself doing the following, all at the same time:

helping a child practice the piano who didn't want anything to do with the piano, nursing a newborn, changing a toddler's diaper on the floor right next to the piano, helping a 5th grader do his first school project and calming his "stress" nerves, dealing with a 4-year-old who was having a meltdown on the kitchen floor, stirring the soup for dinner on the stove, and monitoring the cookies in the oven.

This all happened within about 2 minutes, and the rest of the afternoon was pretty much one thing after another: a new bottle of ranch dressing spilled all over the floor as Andersen tried to drink it, a glass bowl broke, another glass jar broke, nail polish spilled on the new wood table, which lead to more meltdowns from the 4-year-old, throw-up from the baby, screaming and chasing around the kitchen island that lead to children slipping on the water that was leaking out of the freezer door, another dislocated elbow from the toddler, a blow-out diaper from the baby.

All living on about 5 hours of sleep for the past new nights. Which means my patience is limited, to say the least.

And I thought college was busy.

Why do we women put ourselves through that craziness?

I found myself thinking of yesterday early this morning at 4 AM while tending to the new baby. Now it seems totally humorous! What a crazy day, and I'm glad these types of days are not all that often.

For me, the only reason that keeps me going as a mother is LOVE. Love for my children, love for my Heavenly Father who has trusted me with his children, love for my husband who has helped bring these children, and feelings of love from my Heavenly Father which provides me confidence in my abilities-as limited as they are. He will somehow make up the difference.

Here's a great quote from President Hinckley, a past prophet of my church (see http://www.mormon.org/). "You have nothing in this world more precious than your children. When you grow old, when your hair turns white and your body grows weary, when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of your life, nothing will be so important as the question of how your children have turned out. It will not be the money you have made. It will not be the cars you have owned. It will not be the large house in which you live. The searing question that will cross your mind again and again will be, How well have my children done?"

So I keep going, always waking up each day with a renewed desire to do my best at this mothering thing, to love these children the way I know I should, and to lead them in truth. Hopefully some day, as I sit in my rocking chair with gray hair, I'll look back with fondness on these busy mothering years.