Living in the margin.....

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We were sitting at the table, having potluck lunch at church today.  We joined another family and were chatting about this and that.  They have 2 little boys and one of the boys was talking to mom and kind of pushing things with her......and she turned to me, with her pretty face looking strained, her big, dark eyes searching and she say......"Ugh.  How?  How do you do it with 5?"  

I almost busted out laughing....but instead I gave her lots of reassurance that it would get better as the kids get older.....and now, tonight, I'm laughing at myself instead.  Why?

I had a busy Sunday today.....not much sitting and resting.  Precious Maryn has had some rough days......and Sundays are particularly hard for her.....as are meals......and Josiah was really whiney today.  Claire was stressed and snappy because she had to pack up and go to Des Moines for a school event today and all she really wanted to do was watch movies on her laptop in her bedroom, snuggled in the dark.  The kids decided to swim even though the water is frigid......and I was just busy.

I had about 10 minutes of really good quality parenting today.  Woot, woot!  Tonight, I've got the littles plugged into ipads and headphones so that I can watch tv and scroll facebook.  Roger took the boys to a movie.  I'm not doing a good job tonight as a mom.....but we aren't fighting or crying.  Everyone has been fed, even if it was fish sticks.  How do I do it with 5?  With a large margin of error, that's how.  

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