Oh yeah!! Congrats on baby number two and I’m so glad to help give you some peace of mind! I now have five kids and homeschool and work from home so life is BUSY and there is no way I can entertain my kids all day! ha ha ha. And thankfully they have each other to entertain. But, really, it’s all about balance and having a schedule. Best of luck and thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Decluttering helps a lot! I still think we have it easier, although, maybe we do have more stuff/clutter ,and bigger homes, so it can take us longer to clean up! And young kids are just mess makers, so I think it may just be the season of life a bit. 🙂

My friend Lauren over at The Military Wife and Mom has several awesome posts about working to develop independent play time in young kids – http://www.themilitarywifeandmom.com/?s=independent+play – I would suggest looking them over. They are very helpful. I know it’s hard with the 1-2 year olds to not have them clinging on you all the time. It usually is just a matter of training them, and creating a safe play area for them, and creating some boundaries. Good luck Shelby!

Balancing is hard! I just sent you an email with some ideas and things that have worked for us, but I am totally impressed with the cooking from scratch every night. Definitely my weak point!

I think you are right. There is still a lot of value in such things, and I do think in many ways, people are being drawn to that type of lifestyle now, because they want to work with their hands, be frugal, and know where their food comes from too. But, learning these skills is always easier said than done (as I know firsthand!). But, thankfully, we do have resources like the internet, to educate and help.

What an awesome quote!! Thank for sharing that with me Becca.

It’ll get easier! Toddlers are hard because they can’t communicate what they want verbally, so they act out. Once they can communicate what they want, and you can communicate what you want, it really does get a lot easier.

Be nice to yourself. Forgive yourself when you screw up (most of us screw up a lot!) I have a magnet on my fridge – “Sometimes courage does not roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says, I will try again tomorrow.” God willing there is always a tomorrow to fix the problems of today.

I Love this post! I am a stay at home mom now for 3 1/2 years. While I do work PRN (very part time, call on weeknights and some weekends). I had a very hard time giving up work because it was work that I loved, yet I just could NOT leave our little ones. I know I have no regrets making the choice that I have. But my concern is is that I really am not teaching them the things they should be taught. Their value, character, being kind, sharing, all working together. For some reason these things seem very hard to “teach” for me. I don’t know how, and it seems to come so natural for so many people. I LOVE my boys, but they really wear on me and it seems I lose my temper and end up yelling, a LOT. My home is not harmonious at all it seems no matter what I try. I know I have given up to easily at times, as I am just worn out. How does one get the home “together” so to speak. My boys get up early (6am), I sometimes try & get up at 5 and exercise and read the bible (30 min each). But I am soo tired as I usually still get up 2-3 times with either of them. My boys are 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 years old. The younger goes to bed at 8:30 and the older one does not go until usually 9:30. Sometimes he will be in his room talking till 10:30!! I have been able to get him to stay in his room, by threatening to take one of his favorite toys away. Any advice!?

What a great compliment to get from your mom!! Seriously! That’s totally want I want in my family! I want all of us to work together so well, understanding our contributions to the family, but also to enjoy each other. And it is really important to have your husband on board. I feel bad for your poor acquaintance. I try hard to make life easier for my husband, especially on his long days. We’re on the same team, so why compete against each other?

My mom – who was almost always a stay at home mom when I was growing up – commented recently that our family is like a well-practiced orchestra, we all play a part and we all work together to make it work. I thought that was a nice complement.

I have an acquaintance whose husband is a stay at home dad. She works long hours but inevitably, the first thing she hears when she walks through the door – at 7, 8 o’clock – is, “What’s for dinner?” That’s right. Her husband refuses to cook. In fact, he refused to change poopy diapers when their kids were little – he would actually call her up at work and make her come home to change a poopy diaper because he felt it was below him! Talk about the worst of both worlds!