A Beautiful Mess

I am a Beautiful Mess. My children are a Beautiful Mess. My husband is a Beautiful Mess. My house is a Beautiful Mess. My life is a Beautiful Mess.

I am very thankful for the friends and support I have found with my local MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group.  They have taught me how to love, share, support, encourage and have more patience. Also to not judge myself and my fellow mamas.

It has been a cleaning and de-cluttering day here.  I definitely have spring fever because I this has been going on for about four weeks.  My 2 year old found a random piece of cardboard this morning, climbed up to the table and asked if she could paint. My first thought was 'Not the paint, that's to messy!!' And I told her not now because I wanted to clean up first. Unfortunately I find myself saying NO too often and YES not often enough.

I stopped myself in my tracks and realized there was nothing wrong with letting her paint. Why not keep her busy so I could finish a few things that I wanted to do. So I got her all set up to paint. Painting only lasted about 20 minutes and I may not have had the chance to do what I wanted, but my daughter had a blast painting picture after picture. She loves coloring, painting, writing and drawing and I feel like I deprive her of that when I tell her no. 

I did the same thing last week when they asked about playing playdough. My first reaction was the same.... but so was the outcome. My girls had fun and we made silly faces, pets, snowmen and spaghetti! We even made homemade playdough for the first time.

I recently realized I spend too much time cleaning and picking up after my kids and not enough time playing and making a mess with them. So, I decided to make a change.  My house has been more of a beautiful mess than usual, but we are also having more fun. 

I'm here to tell other mamas out there that You are not alone.  My house is not perfect and either is my family, but we need more YES and less NO. Laugh more... yell less. Play more... clean later. The time we have with our children goes by way too fast and we need to cherish it more. Stop what your doing and read the book with him, write her name with her, and have more fun. Because that's what will make the mess more beautiful.