When you feel like all you do is manage messes and bodily functions all day...

that's because, some days, it is.

does this make you feel better about the status of your own living room?

It comes with the job.

One morning I woke myself up a little early because I wanted to pump [substance 1 - breastmilk] because I needed to beef up my frozen stash a little bit, only to find that one of our dogs had vomited [substance 2 - dog vomit] all over our dining area rug.  The time it took to thoroughly clean that up disabled me from pumping before Josie woke up, so I went ahead and nursed her and naturally she spit up [substance 3 - spit up] all over the sheets that we had changed the night before just as the toddler was stirring on her video monitor.  So instead of taking off the sheets, I just wiped the spit with a baby cloth and then went down to the big girl's room to find that -- shocker -- Penny had pooped her bed [substance 4 - toddler poo] and her sheets and jammies needed to be washed on the sanitary cycle.  She needed a bath [substance 5 - bathwater].  All before breakfast.

Later that day, before nap time, Penny was playing in the sink unsupervised while brushing her teeth [substance 6 - water all over the counter] because Mommy was changing baby sister's diaper on the floor in her room [substance 7 - baby excrement] and was so preoccupied that she had a pee accident all over herself [substance 8 - toddler pee] so needed another bath.   Then somehow she made herself laugh so hard she started choking a little bit and then barfed in the tub she was in [substance 9 - bath water with floating barf].  Empty tub.  Clean Tub.  Fill tub for another bath.  That's three baths for one kid within five hours.  Later that afternoon, I was with Josie on my bed, nursing her with desperate hope that she would fall back asleep and take a decent nap so I could deal with the aftermath from the day's previous incidents, but my plans were foiled by my own allergies and twelve consecutive sneezes that not only woke her but also caused me to pee my own pants [substance 10].  Because, not enough kegels to hold it in for twelve sneezes.  Baby smiled at me in the mirror as I changed my unders, cursing the allergens in the air, then spit up all over herself again.

Regular mommy substances not mentioned in this anecdote: blood, boogers, tears, drool, scabs, spilled drinks, accidentally-spilled food, purposefully-spilled food, play dough, washable ink, permanent ink, sand from the playground, and stickers.  Yes, I said stickers... they could be your worst enemy if someone gives your two-year-old an open pack without you knowing it.

Not all days are so extreme, but add the clutter of toys and clothes and mail and the grownups' stuff, and you're got a full days' work just trying to keep it all from overcoming your household.  Every mom, stay-at-home or work-outside-the-house, feels the struggle of juggling messes.  Regular laundry and dishes and diapers alone can be are a full time gig when you have multiple little kids in the house, add a couple diaper blowouts and stepping barefoot on a lego to the mix, and it might just send you over the edge during the wrong time of the month.

I love me some motherhood, but I never realized there would be so much poop and pee and barf and STUFF everywhere.  And I only have two.

Breathe.

It's not going to be like this forever.

God only gives us what we can handle.  Look at your beautiful children.  Some day, if you raise them such, they'll wipe their own butts and wash their own dishes and pick up their own toys.  Then some day later, they'll be living out of your house.  Gone.

Breathe.  Thank you God for the messes in my house, please help me to remember the preciousness of this stage, and lean in to the struggles that come with it.