“Why is this so hard? Why do I have to do everything? Why do I have to handle everything?”
I’ve asked myself those questions more times than I can count since becoming a mom.
Like, what do you mean I just had a baby and he needs me 24/7? I feed him, burp him, change him, rock him to sleep, and somehow there’s still housework waiting on me.
Great.
Now I have to cook dinner, fold laundry, clean the toilet, answer texts, and somehow do it all with a baby.
Motherhood is not for the weak, am I right?
Some days it feels like the to-do list never ends. The laundry multiplies overnight. The dishes magically reappear in the sink. The floor needs sweeping again, even though you just swept it yesterday.
And somehow, in the middle of all of that, your baby wants to be held.
Not in five minutes.
Not after you’ve finished folding the clothes.
Right now.
There have been days when I’ve looked around my house and felt completely overwhelmed. Days when I wondered how other moms seemed to keep up with everything while I felt like I was barely making it through the day.
But let me tell you two things.
First, it’s all worth it.
Every contact nap. Every middle-of-the-night feeding. Every time you sit down to breastfeed and realize it’s been an hour and you’ve gotten absolutely nothing else done. Every moment spent rocking a fussy baby instead of crossing something off your to-do list.
It’s worth it.
Second, a lot of it simply doesn’t matter as much as we think it does.
Before I had Milo, people constantly told me, “Don’t blink. It goes by so fast.”
Honestly?
I didn’t believe them.
How could something that feels so long in the moment go by fast?
Then somehow the newborn days started slipping away. His tiny clothes stopped fitting. He started staying awake a little longer. His face changed. His little noises changed.
And now here I am telling you the same thing everyone told me.
It goes so fast.
They grow every single day. They don’t stop growing so we can catch up on laundry. They don’t pause childhood so we can scrub the bathroom or organize a closet.
The dishes will still be there later.
The laundry can wait another hour.
The toilet doesn’t care if it gets cleaned today or tomorrow.
But your baby won’t stay little.
Now, I’m not saying let your house completely fall apart. We all function better when things are reasonably clean and manageable.
But it doesn’t have to look the way it did before you had a baby.
You’re in a different season now.
A season of contact naps and cluster feeding. A season of nursing sessions that somehow take up your entire afternoon. A season of baby giggles, sleepless nights, and tiny hands reaching for you because you’re their safe place.
And that’s okay.
In fact, if your house is a little messy, it might actually make another mom feel better about hers.
Because chances are, her laundry basket is overflowing too.
She probably has dishes in her sink.
She probably has toys scattered across the floor.
And she might be wondering if she’s the only one struggling to keep up.
She’s not.
None of us are doing it perfectly.
We’re just doing our best while raising tiny humans who need us more than spotless countertops ever will.
One day the house will stay clean longer.
One day the laundry will be easier to keep up with.
One day you’ll have more time.
But one day you’ll also realize your baby isn’t a baby anymore.
So hold them a little longer.
Let them nurse a little longer.
Leave the dishes for later every once in a while.
Take the picture.
Enjoy the snuggles.
Because everyone was right.
Don’t blink.
It really does go by that fast. ❤️
