Excuse Our Mess - We're Building A Family.

Being connected through technology is a wonderful phenomenon, but it can really get in your head sometimes. When we see so much of other people's lives, through blogging/pinterest/instagram/etc, we start to believe that those pictures that is what other people's lives look like all the time. In reality, all those people have junk drawers and messy kids and piles of laundry too, but "the reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel." (quote).

It's something we all deal with, but doesn't get addressed very often because the web does not make it easy to share pictures of our messy reality. We are all attracted to beautiful, clean images, so that's what we pin/like/share. Bloggers and businesses are totally aware of this phenomenon, so they cater their photos to this idealized version of home life, where everything is clean and clutter-free. It's a cycle: I pin the images that reflect the life I want to live, and so bloggers keep creating images that fit that dream.

And even though I love those images of a clean house, I'm well aware that I have young children who don't view the "stuff" as "mess." That's something we teach them as they grow, and for the most part, the floor is perfectly appropriate storage for toys, games, and clothes. Besides, I want my house actually reflect us as a family: we live here, eat here, play here. We build each other up, and making mistakes is allowed. Cleaning up is part of our process too, but making messes is how we explore and learn.

But, I know that I'm just as guilty at portraying this idealized version of home life. I'm a pro at choosing angles that obscure or hide the mess. I shoot purposefully to crop out the clutter. For better or worse, people judge me on the pictures I post, which influences my decisions as a blogger.

So today, I wanted to share some proof that my house is not as clean or clutter free as many of my pictures make it seem:

She's just dancing in the the (unused) diapers, and all the clothes I spent the morning folding.

And yes, feel free to do whatever you want while I'm on the phone with the insurance companies.

My kids feed themselves cereal from a very young age. It doesn't always go well.

... it makes perfect sense to take everything off your bed and put it on the floor instead. Way to have a clean bed.

And, Mom just decided the dvds need a new home.

Feel free to get out all the forbidden board games, kids.

Go ahead, precariously stack up the dad's book on the rocking chair, he won't mind.

And lastly, this could be any single day, at 5:00 pm. My house looks "lived in" because well, we do live here. Cleaning up needs to happen, but there's no fun if you can't make a little mess in the first place. We make memories together because we're not scared of messing up the house.

I still love the beautiful, sweet images I take of my children, but I did want to show you that they are just a "slice of perfect" amidst my chaotic, messy reality. So please excuse our mess; we're building a family.

Thanks to Jill for hosting this blog hop about finding a #SliceOfPerfect in our #MessyReality. Learning to work around your surroundings is a really important step to being happier with your pictures, so check out the tips that she offers in this post.