it's ok to do nothing

Right before becoming a stay at home Mom, I remember all of these grand ideas I had of how it was going to be.  I was going to do super cute projects with my kids all of the time, go on fun outings, have "school" time at home, you know, basically everything you see all over Pinterest & the internet.

Of course my timing of becoming a SAHM was the same time I was having my third baby, and I had NO time for the things mentioned above.  I was just lucky if I made it through those early days without crying. So I gave myself a break and still did what I could with my kids but reminded myself that once the baby is bigger, we will do all of those amazing things I built up in my head.

Well....that baby is now almost 11 months and guess what? We do not do a fancy project on the daily, we do not go on fun outings all of the time, and we don't do "school" time nearly enough.  Life is just plain busy with 3 kids and it rarely leaves any room for the extras.  I swear most of my day consists of preparing and serving food to my little people.  

I use to get myself all worked up if I didn't have a set routine or schedule for the day or week. Of course having a plan is nice and most of the time helpful but it's also OK to do nothing once in a while.  

Yes, we still do fun outings and crafts and school, but it's not nearly as much as I envisioned before actually staying home.  There are lots of days where we just lay around reading, or talking and laughing, coloring, watching TV, building forts, painting, going on a walk or hanging in our backyard. And you know what? They may not remember that super cool place I took them, but they will always remember us being together and that is truly all that matters.

I don't need to keep up with the Joneses, I just need to keep up with my kids, and as long as they are happy, so am I.