A break!

Having kids sure changes your life! Of course, everyone knows that, but it has become even more apparent to me this last week. Why? Because last week (and every week for the last 2 months. Before that I was essentially a single parent of 5 because Brice was working WAY too much. Good riddance to a crappy job! I will gladly take the uncertainty of unemployment over that any day!) I was one of two parents caring for 5 kids, but this week, Brice took two of those kids and went to California for the week to finish the remodel/addition of his parents' kitchen. That leaves me with 3 kids to manage alone and WOW! What a difference!! Honestly, it is SO MUCH EASIER! I miss my hubby and I miss Ryker and Alaina, but the house stays cleaner, there's less fighting, there's less food to make, fewer clothes to wash, more time to play, and--the big one--I have WAY more sanity! I feel like I was a frog slowly boiling in a shrinking, crowded pot, stressing and struggling but not really noticing anything different. Life was just life and we just carry on. But this week has been like going on a holiday! I went shopping with TWO kids instead of THREE--total vacay! Right now I get to BLOG because TWO kids are SLEEPING and there are no other ones around! *Happy dance* Now don't get me wrong, I love my big, crazy, busy, raucous family but you just don't realize how EASY things used to be--the whole way along you just feel like this is the hardest, craziest, scariest thing ever, raising these wee ones. But man, seeing what it's like to go from 5 down to 3 for a week makes me wish I had known how easy I had it when I had it. Of course, that's just not how life works, but it sure is an interesting epiphany and something to think about as I go through my day-to-day. Try to remember, as hard as my job is now, it can always get harder. So find ways to enjoy it while I'm in it before it passes me by. That is my personal pep-talk/reminder for the day. :)