My baby

So, "this" is the reason I'm not quite where I want to be on my "Spring Cleaning" list. Actually, in all fairness to this precious baby, she's been pretty darn great. We have the upstairs completely finished. The kids' bedrooms are absolutely clutter-free and everything they own (which is a lot less than before) has a spot.
My next main project is the kitchen. We don't have the best set-up in the kitchen so I'm going to have to be pretty creative in order for it to feel "clutter-free".
Can you tell I'm sick of clutter? I'm done with it! It's gone, outta here! We don't have a huge house, but I have a feeling that it will seem a lot larger than it is if we just get rid of some of the stuff we have. The bedrooms already seem a lot bigger. I realize that with a family of 6 we are going to have stuff, but I've also discovered the less we have, the more we cherish what we have. The kids are playing with the toys they have now. They are reading and rereading the books that have been recently unearthed. Something else I have discovered is that the more kids we have the less things we need. That sounds wrong, but truly, the more children in this house, the more the kids play with one another and don't need a ton of toys. Poor Veronica can't get a moment to herself!

What brought this sudden desire to get rid of stuff? Well, this Spring has been one full of reflection on my part. A young mother of four from our parish is battling leukemia, my grandpa is within days of his death, several mothers are undergoing some very difficult pregnancies where holding a baby at the end is not necessarily a guarentee. Let's just say I've had a lot of time to reflect on the important things in life. My children might still annoy me at times, but I thank God that I'm here to be annoyed by them. I might not feel up to cleaning my house or making dinner, but goodness I can so by golly, I will. Do I want to read "one more chapter"? Not always, but I need to. Is it really that important that I have lunch ready for my dear husband when he walks home from work? Not really, but I'm going to anyway. Am I super-woman? Absolutely not, but by the grace of God I'm trying to live each of my days more fully than the last.

And now some humor that I think my grandpa would even appreciate. When he was younger my grandpa shot his leg during a hunting accident. He had it amputated and has never let the fact that he only has one leg slow him down, at all. Well, when Brett got home last night I told him the sad news that my grandpa was fading quickly and we'll need to be making some plans to go to KS for a funeral. He is of course sad. He thinks very highly of this WWII vet, loving husband and father of 6! Anyway, after enough time had passed so this comment would not seem uncaring, Brett looked at me and said, "You know Meghan....I've always known that he was on his last leg!".