I’ve always liked kids. Before I was even twelve years old, I was a well-regarded babysitter. I worked as a nanny during college. I volunteered with various organizations that helped children. I cried many bitter tears when it appeared that I would never have my own children. I am a Sunday School teacher, a Vacation Bible School director, the mom who serves homemade Chex to eleven boys on a Snow Day.
Now, thirteen years after adopting twins, I’ve overdosed. I am living “too much of a good thing.” My waking hours are overlowing with children. I’m never around my peers. I rarely have adult conversations with anyone but my husband and then I have nothing to say because I’ve just spent twelve hours with children.
I might be losing my mind.
But meanwhile, I take pictures of creative souls who believe that if one straw is good, twenty straws are better.
(This post made possible by one hundred consecutive hours spent at home with the children.)
Actual Unretouched Photo 
How many times I felt the same way while my kids were growing up!! I was about the only stay-at-home mom thru several years of my kids’ youth so I had not only mine but all the neighbor kids…and some from streets nearby…at my house on a daily basis. But now they’re all grown up, in their 20s and early 30s, and they’re like extended family, bringing by THEIR kids for us to oooh and aaah over. Even so. There were days I wanted to sit down in a corner and cry. My sympathies, Mel. (((HUG)))
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Heh heh! She looks like a girl after my own heart!
The One Who Jumps In With Both Feet
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Hang in there Mel. I admire you, I have never stayed home with my children and I am not sure how long I would last if given the chance.
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It’s the season of our lives…when we sew into our children, we reap something bigger than we can imagine.
You are blessed and a blessing.
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Ah, Mel, I hear you. Too much of a good thing sometimes is just too much.
Let’s be sure and touch base when we come a-visitin’ to your neck of the woods, ‘kay? (Afterall, I can do adult conversation pretty good… I think!)
{{{{mel}}}}
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That was a hard thing to put into writing wasn’t it? Worried someone would get the wrong idea….I know, I know what you are saying…”I love those kids with my entire heart, but PLEASE God, I need a break’
We all do occasionally.
You are heard.
~K!
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I hear you! Too much of this very good thing really does a number on you. Just tonight I told my little good things that I was officially off duty, and not to request another thing!
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Oh yes oh yes oh yes, I understand. I was at my limit last night. Not only did I have my kids but also the kids ofmy friend who is in the hospital. I was truly happy to help her out. I wanted to. But last night after their daddy came to get them, I confess to heaving a huge sigh of relief at the relative silence in our home. Relative because of course my own 4 were still here. And this morning before mine wake up I’m still relishing the quiet. I was ready to run out the door and scream running down the street pulling my hair out. How’s that for a picture? I’m praying for you! Hang in there Mel!
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You don’t keep as little grown up company as you think. I’m still a faithful reader via the voyeuristic world of bloglines, so admittedly it’s a rather one-sided conversation with you doing all the work and me happily listening, but I’m still here and going nowhere.
And when those kids grow up they’ll talk to you as grown ups, as I do with my mother who lives at home, five thousand miles away.
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On days like that, I would think ‘well now, this will be interesting to write about in years to come’.
If it’s any comfort, I did retain some level of sanity and have NEVER forgotten those days. Never. And, I’ve lost just enough sanity to miss those days. Occasionally.
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I feel like that all the time. I stay at home, but with only two kids. To top it off, we live in a very rural area. The two neighbors we have all never home, and there are no other kids to play with except for the pre-planned “play dates” which involve at least a 20 minute drive to the closest one!
I call my Mom constantly. She and my husband make up 99% of my “adult” converstations, but they usually involve topics regarding the kids. I love your “Free Mel” days! Chin up! These days will come to a screeching halt sooner than you realize and then you’ll enter “empty nest” dilemas.
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I love your last statement! Too funny.A hundred consecutive hours! Is that all? Bwahahaha!
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This is a season – it will not last near as long as it will feel like it lasts. I’ve been there too. Especially since we began homeschooling and we’ve gotten down to one car these last few months….I’ve thought about running down the street screaming too!! 🙂
I’ve found that these periods of isolation are not without purpose!
Hang in there!
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I am a decade ahead of you, and while I don’t by any means want to sound saintly, my husband was away at sea nine months of the year, so it was just me and the 3 kids. And the telephone. And in those days no computer. Looking back, I could have made other choices, but I don’t for a second regret staying home with the kids, and my friends kept me sane. I think. There is a downside to every up, and alone-ness, rather than loneliness is one of them, but I learnt to enjoy my own company. In fact, now that they are all grown, I need the alone-ness more than ever.And it all passed in a flash.
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I’m living your life, with only THREE children.
In one minute a few hours ago, one child dumped her full dinner plate all over the floor (“But it was a NACCIDENT, Mom!”) and the other had an accident in his pants (“But it was REALLY an ACCIDENT, Mom!”)
And I, too, cried buckets when I thought I would never have them. I have to hold onto that thought sometimes!
Feel free to call me if you want to talk to an adult. Or I will call YOU, if you’d rather! 🙂
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I hear you!!
I know when my husband used to travel (a lot) with work I could last 10 days. After that, I was looking out the window for his car. I missed him dearly. Now, that was with two little ones who nap. I am not sure how long it would be now that the boys are older. I love it but they also go to bed at 8. As much as I love the time with them, I also love the quiet time between 8 and bed time. Sometimes too much, and I stay up too late.
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