life is good.

because…

-the weather is lovely.  we can finally wear our summer clothes! and it’s the first time this year i woke up not being cold!

-i got 11 hrs. of sleep last night.  can i get a what what?

  

-i received this beautiful painting of my little girls from this talented artist.  i can’t wait to frame it and hang it up in their room, what a pleasant surprise! thanks a million!

i hope everyone has a great weekend!

♥

i recently came across this article on cnn about how people with children are less happy and more depressed than their childless peers.  this article told me when 909 working mothers were asked to rank pleasurability in activities, child care ranked 19th and they considered preparing food, watching TV, exercising, talking on the phone, napping, shopping, and housework more pleasurable than child care.  there are many other articles and studies that prove the same theory: that having children make you more miserable than happy.

well, i thought this was very interesting and thought much about this subject.  first of all, the second article that asked women to rank pleasurability is totally biased since they only asked working mothers and not stay at home mothers.  i’m sure many or at least some of them are working mothers because they dislike being a stay at home mom, so of course you’ll rank child care way down low.  and i totally get that!  i think every women’s different and if you asked women who love being a stay at home mom(like me), then we would rank child care a lot higher.  even though i’ll choose napping over child care anyday, eh hem.  and i can see why many parents are less happy than childless couples.  i mean who can be happy when you smell the most foul, nasty, almost about to faint- poop AND you gotta clean it up everyday?(you mothers who no longer have breastfed/bottlefed babies but toddlers who eat solid adult food know what i’m talkin’ about!) but in all seriousness, it is the hardest, most stressful, difficult job in the world.  if you have a job, you worry about work while you’re at work and once you clock out, you’re done with no need to worry about it until the next day when you go back to work.  with school, you just worry about yourself and what you need to get done.  with parenthood, you take care, clean up after, worry about, pray for, watch out for, responsible for another human being 24/7.  your big chunk of happiness depends on the success/happiness of your children and the success/happiness of your children is many times a reflection of your character/examples/parenting skills/a person that you are, which is so stressful since you know you can always do better.  sometimes i hate it so much, i lose my temper way too easily on the kids, or i cry out loud like a little baby.  i’m more stressed out than before i became a mother, i never realized i was so quick-tempered, pessimistic and impatient until my children became toddlers.  i’m reminded everyday how much i lack as a person and all the christ-like attributes i need to work on to become a better parent, a better wife, a better human being. 

but having said all that, i am more happy.  by far.  and that’s saying a lot because i’m honestly the happiest person i know and i think if you ask my family and my friends, they’ll say i’m one of the happiest people they know also.  while i’m more stressed because of this huge responsibility, and i get impatient and lose my temper and those times are not fun at all, the other times are soooooo good.  sooooooo precious, pure, and wonderful.  maybe it’s my religion that believes that’s one of the reasons why you are born on this earth, to replenish the earth and have children, and there’s no greater job than being a mother, so i know i’m fulfilling my life destiny by being a mother and that makes me feel complete and gives me life satisfaction in knowing  i’m in the right place, doing the right thing and there isn’t anything else more important that i could be doing.  and maybe i always think of the scripture, “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so … righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad…” (2 Ne. 2: 11).  so while i get so frustrated and stressed sometimes being a parent and the lows are lower than before i became a parent, the highs are also way higher than before.  the happiness i feel as a mother is far beyond any happiness i felt before.  many times, at least once a day, i think of my children, my husband, my little family i’m raising and i get so happy that my heart feels like it’s being engulfed ever so quickly with water, except instead of water, it’s filled with intense happiness and complete joy.  it wells up so quickly and with such abundance in my heart that my heart skips a beat trying to swallow it all in.  i literally have to stop thinking about it and take a deep breathe in order to get my heart back in control.  and i’ve never felt that before i had children.

and if you ask me what my happiest moments in life are, i’ll tell you without a second thought, it’s when i hear my children laughing while playing with daddy.  there is no sound more beautiful and peaceful than hearing my two little girls giggle and laugh out loud while playing with daddy.  my heart wells up with so much happiness every time i hear the sound.  and since daddy is such a wonderful daddy who is always playing with them, is so fun and funny and makes them laugh all the time, i am happy quiet often.