So I am an organization FREAK and much to my dismay..having been married for almost 18 years, having 4 boys and being tired most every day means I have had to let go of my desire for the Martha Stewart, Organized Living and Container Store DREAM. Well I guess I haven't let go of the DESIRE maybe let go of the hope and am trying to embrace the REALITY....things don't look the way I want in every room of our house. Boys don't necessarily appreciate labels, baskets, bins and things coordinating. I literally have to talk in my head to myself in order to NOT freak out when things aren't in order. And I have to remind myself how BLESSED we are to have STUFF even though sometimes I wonder if people with NOTHING are happier as they don't have stuff to clutter their mind. (that's another topic and post all by itself)
Most of the time I am honestly too worn out, too tired out to really do much about it all. Having teenagers and toddlers at the same time is EXHAUSTING. Hey maybe a new show, instead of "Toddlers and Tiara's" we could do episodes of " Toddlers and Teenagers" in where I would be on the sofa in tears, or in a chair sound asleep with my mouth wide open, on the phone with my Mom or even more real I could be in the car driving someone somewhere for something. Sorry...I digress.
Back to the topic at hand, it is January. And every SINGLE January I vow to be more organized, to buy less, live more simply and just be content and grateful for our health and the love we have in our home. I usually want to re do something, paint something...re organize. Every SINGLE year that bug hits me....
This past week I have been struggling with this on many levels..Drew wants his room to be BUCKEYE nuts, he received a sheet of about 20 wall stickers for Christmas all Ohio State...whose silly idea was THAT? Jack has a lego room in the basement under the stairs and it is being over run by legos and he wants to display them in his room...CRINGE....reminder he shares his room with a certain 2 year old....and Tommy...well I will admit he is by far the tidiest of the bunch as far as clutter goes in his room. He is good at hiding clothes and messes but he doesn't like "stuff" all over...
A few years ago there was a book out called "The Last Lecture" and it was mainly a letter a dying man was writing to his children. And in it...he mentioned that his Mom always let his room be however he wanted it to be, after all it was HIS room. And that has STUCK with me and STUCK with Scott over and over and over...Scott reminds me of it often. I want to be THAT kind of Mom as hard as it is for me to let go...I want THAT to be our boys memory.
Last night I was in our green room, AKA sunroom, AKA main floor playroom and there was stuff EVERYWHERE....Drew walked in, walked on a toy and continued to sit down. I said to him, in my not so sweet Momma voice "do you NOT see that toy you just stepped on? Can you NOT stop and pick it up and put it away" and his response was this..."Mom maybe stuff like that doesn't bother me and so I don't feel like I HAVE to put it right away. Max maybe was playing with it"....as I gritted my teeth and probably lectured him about putting things away I keep hearing what he said...Maybe it doesn't bother them...and maybe they have a completely different way of seeing stuff all over and messy than I do....
Here are some photos of what I envision in my mind....
Most of the time I am honestly too worn out, too tired out to really do much about it all. Having teenagers and toddlers at the same time is EXHAUSTING. Hey maybe a new show, instead of "Toddlers and Tiara's" we could do episodes of " Toddlers and Teenagers" in where I would be on the sofa in tears, or in a chair sound asleep with my mouth wide open, on the phone with my Mom or even more real I could be in the car driving someone somewhere for something. Sorry...I digress.
Back to the topic at hand, it is January. And every SINGLE January I vow to be more organized, to buy less, live more simply and just be content and grateful for our health and the love we have in our home. I usually want to re do something, paint something...re organize. Every SINGLE year that bug hits me....
This past week I have been struggling with this on many levels..Drew wants his room to be BUCKEYE nuts, he received a sheet of about 20 wall stickers for Christmas all Ohio State...whose silly idea was THAT? Jack has a lego room in the basement under the stairs and it is being over run by legos and he wants to display them in his room...CRINGE....reminder he shares his room with a certain 2 year old....and Tommy...well I will admit he is by far the tidiest of the bunch as far as clutter goes in his room. He is good at hiding clothes and messes but he doesn't like "stuff" all over...
A few years ago there was a book out called "The Last Lecture" and it was mainly a letter a dying man was writing to his children. And in it...he mentioned that his Mom always let his room be however he wanted it to be, after all it was HIS room. And that has STUCK with me and STUCK with Scott over and over and over...Scott reminds me of it often. I want to be THAT kind of Mom as hard as it is for me to let go...I want THAT to be our boys memory.
Last night I was in our green room, AKA sunroom, AKA main floor playroom and there was stuff EVERYWHERE....Drew walked in, walked on a toy and continued to sit down. I said to him, in my not so sweet Momma voice "do you NOT see that toy you just stepped on? Can you NOT stop and pick it up and put it away" and his response was this..."Mom maybe stuff like that doesn't bother me and so I don't feel like I HAVE to put it right away. Max maybe was playing with it"....as I gritted my teeth and
Here are some photos of what I envision in my mind....
(I heart organizing blog photos that I should probably stop reading)
..note the happily playing boys in their very clean room sigh...pottery barn
and below is my current reality...
Our Ohio State obsessed son #2...we have several but this one wants it to be KNOWN in his room and yes I helped him hang every single thing you see....trying SO hard to be THAT Mom that doesn't mind the clutter and chaos. I will add he thanked me 20 times for helping him and raved about how awesome it ALL is.
Jack's current project...he wanted to display those legos...we had this bookshelf in the basement which adds TOO much furniture to their room, BUT he is in the process of moving legos in there...and IF he were home right now that's where he would be. Sigh Sigh Sigh...SO MUCH clutter...but it is HIS room right??
This is what his beautifully organized LEGO room currently looks like under the stairs
and now...what to do with all of the stuff that was in and ON the bookcase in the basement that has now been moved upstairs to the bedroom...
Am I the only Mom that has a hard time with letting GO of the perfectly organized home? And am I the only one who falls asleep EXHAUSTED at the end of every single day?
Oh how I love our boys and oh how I want them to grow up and feel like they had their own SPACE. My Mom WAS great about that, I don't know how many times I rearranged my room, hung posters, nailed holes, re organized my closet, my desk...she never ever commented or really cared. It just didn't bother her...I want to be more like that in 2013.
The Last Lecture was a life-changing read. I loved that his teenaged room was left unchanged. I LOVE that each of your boys has their own themed space.
ReplyDeleteMy children's rooms are pretty much squaller. It is hard to be a mom.
Pretty sure my mom just closed my door all the time. She let me hang things and it was very, um. 'busy'. But she also showed me that she celebrated who I was for letting me be me within my own 'space'. BUT the rest of the house was not to be left dirty/cluttered etc. She would just put it all in a bag at the end of the day and we would have to pay her for it back. Now, im a clean freak organized freak and will totally have trouble with my kids' rooms being messy!!! Im anxious to see you go through this so I can learn something for me to be able to handle it when my kids are older.
ReplyDeleteI can finally visit your blog again!!! :) I had a minute, (Well...really I don't...I shoule be making dinner) and clicked to "catch up" on some of your posts. I desperatly needed to read this and am currently trying do more of what you are doing. THANK YOU for this!!!!
ReplyDeleteI think you already know my philosophy--let it go and you can organize to your heart's content when they have moved away. Let them live and enjoy their creativity. Remember that little boys or teenagers do not live in the rooms that you see in magazines or catalogs.
ReplyDelete