Don't be discouraged, you do more than you think!

For every mom out there...this just about sums it up:

This was the perfect video to watch this morning as I lay in bed for any additional second I could get while hearing my kids playing and bickering in the background.

Last night we had a Relief Society (women's group for my church) activity about "the seasons of our lives".  There was a panel of a great women, all who I know (some better than others) and they discussed what stage of life they are in, what they like best, and what kind of things they have learned at their stage or looking back on other stages of life.  It was so great to listen to the discussion and better appreciate everyone's season of life - even my own.

My season of life consists of 4 kids, meal planning/cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, homework help, driving carpool, not sleeping enough, mountains of laundry, too much stuff in too little space, the list goes on...

....which reminds me of these songs by Hilary Weeks:

But, the one thing I love about parenting is that it's always changing.  Sometimes it feels like we're stuck in a stage for so long, but when we look back, we realize that it went so quickly.  I think of all these stages as learning opportunities.  We can only do the best we know how and we just need to take what tools we can learn from each season of our life and do our best to along the way.  Maybe what we learn at any given point is just so that someday we can help someone else who is going through the same thing.

A friend reminded me today that I need to give myself more credit for things.  We're all our own biggest critics and sometimes we're so focused on what we're not doing.  Today, let's celebrate something that we do well!