How Do You Do It?

You know how sometimes people ask stay at home moms that have a large family, "How do you do it?" when really they mean, "You are totally nutso!"

That is not what I mean here.  Right now I've spent the last week literally working myself as hard as I can and still haven't reached what I would consider a satisfactory level of success with kids, husband or home and I don't even have what some would consider a large family.  And I'm not saying that my level of satisfaction is high by any means.  Mostly I would just love to spend a day, a whole day, not losing my cool with any member of my amazing and wonderful family.  Also, it would be nice if the counter weren't sticky with who knows what and if we could stinking find a cup when we need one, oh! and I didn't step in my son's urine when he accidentally didn't make it into the potty.  Yeah, that last one would be really nice.

Now I know the first thing people are going to tell me.  Don't sweat the small stuff, just love them and everything else will work out.  Here's the thing, it's a lot easier to love them when they're not hungry, or asking me 10 million times where their other shoe is.  It's hard to calmly help them look for it when I want to say, "I don't know!  Put the thing in your closet and then you'll always know where it is!"

I keep running thinking that this phase will pass.  The baby will grow up and I will be able to find more time, but I'm starting to wonder if that's just a lie people tell you as well.  Because here's the thing.  Yes, the baby grows up, but so do the other children.  And then they're in kindergarten, and dance, and swimming, and what not.  And you're getting ready and cleaning up and driving them to each of those things.

So here's the question for all those moms out there, how do you do it?