2 in a row..

It was another great morning. Although, this time it wasn't good becasue I got a lot of things done. It was great because I played with my kids. We played monsters and dragons, and swords and bears. Brooke and Livy have a "cave" in the corner behind the chaise. I loved imagining with them and scaring them and just letting our creativity come out. Another reason this was so great is because I have come to except the fact that I am not very good at playing with my kids. I love to take them places and ride bikes with them and go for walks and even do crafts and I love to read to them, but I am not good at pretending with little people or pet shop or dress up. And this morning I had so much fun! And they did too. I watched one of the power of mom videos the other day and it said something like the average women will spend 2,000 hours in line, 21,000 hours in traffic, 30,000 hours doing housework and only 1.5 hours a week playing with their children. I definitely don't want to be that kind of average mom. So, today and yesterday I decided to change that. I am going to play with my kids more. (And just as I wrote that last sentence, Brooke walked up and asked, "Mom, do you want to play pet shop with me?") So we played a bears in the lair and dragons and snakes this morning, then I took them to the park. Just us. And I focused on them. Playing with them on the slide and swings and the twirl-go-round and enjoyed them smiling with me. I felt like I was actually "in the moment" a lot yesterday and today. And although I still have another basket of clothes to fold from yesterdays laundry rotating and piles on the counter, I am going to go play pet shop and enjoy it.

Hopefully if I will integrate this into my life a few minutes a day...the hours will add up and someday soon I will figure out a balance between enjoying my kids and doing enough housework that I don't feel like I am drowning in a mess. But for now I am soaking in these moments and giving myself a little pat on the back for improving something during this Motherhood journey.