A little follow up on the thoughts from earlier this week, about days I do and days I don’t…

For most of the rest of the week, I didn’t. I just…didn’t.

Barely making it to get the kids up for their buses for school, I felt rushed and disoriented.

I did the basics.

I fed the babies, made sure they were entertained and clean, and kept their bottles washed and ready for the next round.

I barely kept up with dishes. I did minimal laundry.

But I showered!

When the older boys came home from school, I made sure they were fed and finished their papers or other homework for school, then made sure they showered before bed.

That was it.

Every morning, we all struggled to wake up and repeat the cycle again. And every night, we all had a hard time falling asleep at a decent hour… again.

All week long.

I probably say this nearly every week, but I am so thankful today is Friday!

And to make it even better, this is a long weekend for us! The kids don’t go back to school until Tuesday.

Glorious!

But today was better for me, personally, for a few reasons.

A dear friend came and helped me out today, trying to get a few things handled in my insanely disastrous house.

And get things done, we did!

Let me preface today’s accomplishments with something first, though.

I woke up the same way today as I had all other days this week. I didn’t want to do anything. I wasn’t motivated, and it was a major “Don’t” day, for sure!

My friend and I had already planned on her coming to help me out today, earlier this week, so I was determined to follow through with it. But before she even messaged me this morning, I talked myself out of it and back into it again at least three times.

I sat at my table, sipped my first cup of coffee, and grumbled about the fact that Titus and Levi missed their bus this morning. Levi felt the need, last minute, to shower and Titus was trying his best to get out of going to school at all. That is rare for him, but it was happening today!

They finally left and I continued to sit and sip coffee. I surfed Facebook for a bit, glanced at Twitter, and checked my emails, then went right back to FB to just… scroll.

I did start the laundry and wash a few dishes, but I was nowhere near ready to hit the pavement hard, working to get things cleaned, moved, and organized.

My phone dings.

She’s getting herself ready to head my way.

My grumbling changed to a little hope. I felt hope that maybe I would see more than 30% of my floors by the end of the day. Hope that I would get all the baby stuff moved and my house looking more like a home and less like a walk-through storage unit. And hope that I would finally feel like I got something done for the first time this week!

She arrived a bit later, and we set to the task. Many of them, in fact.

Between the two of us we managed to accomplish the following:

My bedroom was cleared of ALL baby stuff no longer needed.

My bed was cleaned off, again.

My bedroom floors were swept and cleared, again.

The hallway was cleared of baby boxes and storage items.

The dining room was cleaned, swept, and the laundry in said room was all folded.

The kitchen was cleaned, swept, and almost all the dishes done and put away.

The living room was cleaned, organized, swept, and spot cleaned in places on the floors.

Trash was taken out and picked up.

More laundry was completed. Washed, dried, and put away.

And the babies were entertained, fed, changed, cared for, held, cuddled, and snuggled during the entire process.

We worked and worked until after the boys got home from school.

Mom and Dad came by and dropped off my new bookshelves, too!

Yayness!

When it was all done, and after she left, I sat down and started thinking about how much we got done and how excited I was about it.

And then, another thought occurred to me.

Yes, we got a lot completed. We cleaned, scrubbed, moved things, and transformed this place into actual living space again. It was great!

But every day, I have my own small successes. And I tend to forget those all too often.

Even on my “don’t” days, I actually “do.”

Everyone makes it to school. The babies get spoiled. Dishes get done (even if not all of them). Laundry gets done (again, even if not every piece). We all eat every day, sometimes big meals and sometimes hamburger helper or PB&J sandwiches, but we do eat every day. Everyone showers and brushes their teeth before they go to bed inside this tiny house, we call home.

Sometimes I get more done than others and sometimes it’s just the bare minimum.

But tonight, as I sit here reflecting on each day of this past week, I am certain of one thing, and I’ll put it in words that remind me of a Dr. Seuss line in one of his books:

A success is a success, no matter how small.

Remember that with a smile.

All the love,

Becca