Musings on Motherhood

I have decided that motherhood (and perhaps life in general) is a delicate balance of structure and flexibility. It seems that both are needed. Just when you have everything planned, something throws you for a loop. For example, Audri and Daniel are sick today. If I was too stuck on my plan for the day, this could really throw a wrinkle in things, and I think in my earlier stages of motherhood, I might have let it. Not that I am "so experienced", nor do I have all the answers, but I think I have learned that you make a plan, and then you expect changes. I think I'm pondering on this because I have seen the need for both in the last couple of days. On Monday, I signed Audri up for violin lessons. Later in the day I took Dallin, Dailie and Eliza to piano lessons. I began to think about our musical commitments in this family, both monetarily and time, and decided something needed to change. Now, heaven forbid we quit something (those of you who know me know that's difficult for me to do : )), instead I decided if we were going to be committed to this many instruments, we needed to get more serious about practicing. Previously I had asked that practicing happen, and it was mediocre at best. So, I became the Practice Nazi!!! I've make little index cards for each day of the week with the available practice time broken down into half hour slots. Each child is asked to sign up for a half hour slot for each instrument. This includes the piano, trumpet, and violin for Dallin, the cello and piano for Dailie, the violin for Audri (she starts after Spring Break), and the piano for Eliza. Then, I post each day's card on the refrigerator, so I know what instrument I should be hearing at all times!!! We'll see how this works....So, that was my motherhood structure at work, and today is the motherhood flexibility at work. Anyway, I was thinking about it, and thought I'd just write a post about it.

Another day's topic on motherhood- why didn't I ever fathom the time and energy it would take to feed all these people?!? I'm talking largely of the effort to keep food in the home. I feel like I'm always at the grocery store. When I come back, the fridge and pantry are packed full. How can it cycle back around so frequently? If you've stuck with this post this long, you must be a mother too. Either that or you are one awesome person who has sympathy for those of us in this "profession".