I want to make sure you know before reading this, that whether you have 1 child or 12 children, we all have moments where we become an overwhelmed mother. Don’t feel like because I talk about having six kids close together, it means that you can’t relate or need to feel bad for relating. One thing that I’ve learned is that whatever stage we are in, that is the hardest place we’ve been as a mother. It was hard when I had one. It was a different hard when I had four. We all have hard, and we can relate without putting ourselves down for having different hard things.

Dear friend (aka overwhelmed mother),

You know what that moment is like. The one where the day seems to be crashing down around you. Dinner isn’t even started, the breakfast dishes are still everywhere. The floor is sticky, the kids are running around in pajamas, and you feel like you don’t have control of anything. Someone is screaming for you or at you, or possibly both. Sometimes motherhood just becomes overwhelming.

overwhelmed mother

I’ve had that moment what feels like a million times over. Motherhood has been something that has not come as naturally as I anticipated when I was a older teenager/young adult. The patience I once felt like I had seems to have disappeared. Having six kids in the span of seven years has been a great way to see how patient I actually am, or rather the LACK of patience I actually have. For so many years I had a baby, a toddler and a preschooler. The days were oh so long. Everyone told me I’d miss it someday (I’m still waiting to miss it and my baby is in school now).

I had, and still have, these moments where it all just becomes so overwhelming to me. The kids are so loud sometimes, the house just won’t stay picked up, the laundry is 5-6 loads deep in various stages, and everyone is asking me questions. It is in these moments where I just need to step away from the chaos and lock myself in my room and have a good cry, and a talk with God. Almost every time I start by saying, “How am I supposed to do this? Why did they need to come so close together? It’s so hard having them so close together, and there are so many of them!”