Attention Family: House is Clean. Stay Out. 🏠🧹🧽🧺

We spent Saturday of last weekend cleaning up the yard–picking up fallen branches and sticks; power washing the deck and patio furniture; pulling out weeds.

I felt really accomplished…For a hot second, til I realized it would be a fleeting moment of success before needing to be done all over again at some point, definitely next year, but probably in a few weeks, when the pollen again accumulates and the weeds return.  

This reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend a few years ago:  She nailed it when she said, "One of the reasons why parenting is so exhausting is because nothing ever truly feels done." 

The laundry. The dishes. The house cleaning. The making of meals. The cleaning up after meals. The baths. The putting kids to bed.

The moments where things are done and we can relax are short-lived before it’s time to do it all over again. 

The more kids added to the mix, the more it seems that nothing relaxing, clean, or peaceful ever lasts.

I love the trending instagram reels with the voice over: “Attention Family: I just cleaned the entire house, so if you could all stop living here, that would be great.” I can SO relate!

When you’re a kid, work has a definitive end: The book report gets turned in. The play you’ve been rehearsing gets performed. Kindergarten ends and you move on to first grade.

But when you’re a parent, it feels like a never-ending cycle of chores and to-do lists. Once things are checked off the list, it’s time to add them back on again. It’s exhausting.

Especially if you are a mom with a newborn. It may feel like there is no end in sight to the feeding, diapering, bottle washing, pumping, parts washing, rocking, and navigating changing nap schedules.

Hang in there! This period won’t last forever. Remember that it’s okay if the dishes pile up for a bit, the laundry folding waits til the weekend (or next month), and the beds don’t get made.

It won’t always feel so overwhelming. Some days I have to remind myself that eventually my kids will all leave the nest and I'll have all the time in the world to sit alone in a silent, pristine space--probably missing them and their messes. Until then, I just keep putting one foot in front of the other!