Control. Ha.

About a month after Ellie was born, it dawned on me just how much harder it is to have two kids (I know, newsflash). More specifically, it became much more difficult to have a clean, or even neat house. When it came to the toys that seemed to be endlessly strewn about my house, I felt like Sisyphus with that damn boulder, perpetually pushing it up the hill. Perpetually picking up toys. Also perpetually loading and unloading the dishwasher, sorting and doing and folding laundry. You get the idea. After a lot of obsessing, it occurred to me that my house was never going to look the way it did before I had kids. Hell, before I had one kid, even.

I’m a sucker for a P-Touch (gotta love that illusion of control and order they give) so one day, in the height of frustration, I typed the words “EMBRACE THE CHAOS” (yes, in all caps) and stuck it on my refrigerator. I’m not sure where the urge to do so came from, but it’s been there ever since, a constant, quiet reminder that basically says, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. It’s going to be pretty crazy around here for some time, so you might as well deal.

I can’t say I’m perfect (at all) and that I don’t still get just a tad stressed out when the house looks like a tornado has swept through it ( this is often, specifically most evenings and especially Saturday afternoons). Let’s just say I’m dealing with it much better than I used to.

In that vein, there’s a wonderful article about kid clutter, the need to maintain control, and the lessons we can garner from that need for control in the latest "Parenting magazine." And boy did the author hit the nail on the head when it comes to dealing with toys with multiple parts. Oy. It’s a great read if you’re an OCD-in-recovery mom like me, or if you just get really annoyed by all your kid’s stuff lying all over the place.

You can read it here.