Why We Needed to Press Pause for our Family

If you’ve been following my family on my blog or through my social media feeds for years, you know we’re busy. Actually, busy might be putting it lightly. We’re always on the go, always here/there and everywhere and just well… non-stop. With 5 kids – there’s really no other option… busy is where it’s at!

In all honesty – I strive on being busy, there’s something within my DNA that craves to be busy. I always joke with my husband that I don’t have the capacity to just sit and be still. Even when I’m sitting and watching TV, I’ll always have a pile of socks to match or papers in front of me to go through. I’m not saying it’s a good thing or a bad thing, it’s just – well, it is what it is. It’s who I am.

When we moved this summer, something within me changed for my family.

We had to “let go” of a bunch of things this summer while we moved because we just didn’t have the time to fit everything in. For the first time in a long time, we gave ourselves (dare I say it) a break. With 5 kids, it’s not easy to do everything. We’ve tried the best we possibly can for the last 13 years… and we will continue to try our very best because we want the best for our kids. I could tell this summer after our move that we needed some changes. I could tell that we needed to find a way to spend more time together as a family. Childhood goes by so quickly… with high school a couple of years away, I need to soak up this time right now.

So I (along with my hubs) pressed pause on stuff in our life.

How?

The boys were swimming hours and hours and hours each week. Never mind going to swim meets every weekend, too. We needed to press pause on the intensity of it this past summer and fall. I was a swimmer throughout my childhood, so I know firsthand the intensity of the sport, especially if you’re swimming at a certain level. It’s amazing, but it’s also time-consuming. The boys LOVE swimming, so I knew we needed to find something to fill that need and that passion, and we joined a local team (literally) 2 miles from our house (if that). We’re able to eat dinner together every single night rather than just eating on the go. We’re able to get extra time with the kids, which we didn’t have before. It’s been a really wonderful swimming option for us.

The boys usually play fall baseball, but this year with the new move, we pressed pause on this, too. We literally couldn’t add practice and 2 games per week to our already busy schedule. They still wanted to do something this fall, so we opted for Flag Football. They meet ONCE a week, which is perfect and easily fit into our schedules. The boys were thrilled still being able to do another sport, but super excited to try something new!

It’s not easy to make changes for your family. You hope and pray that everything you do makes sense. I have these 5 kids that rely on me and my husband, it’s up to us right now to make the best decisions for them. My main priority this summer was making sure (obsessively) that my sons met kids in our new town. They would make fun of me because I was THAT kind of obsessed about it. But as their mom, I wanted them to go to school the first day knowing at least ONE kid! I never moved as a kid, but always remembered the “new” kids coming in. I wanted to make sure they at least had someone to sit with at lunch. Thank GOD they all made friends and have their own tribes of kids that they are connected with now. Even Victoria, it was important for me to get out there and meet new moms and kids her age, too. She’s my littlest and even though I’ve been at this parenting thing for 13 years now, it’s her first go around with preschool. I loved being able to make time for her and I to go out and meet new people and have play-dates, too.

Pressing pause. Just taking a moment to look at our life and say, “Wait… wait… wait… there’s got to be an easier way right now.” It wasn’t an easy thing to do. Truthfully – I hope we made the right moves, I think we did… I feel it in my heart and in my gut. I felt like we were on a merry-go-round before. I hardly saw my husband, too. He would take the kids to swimming and I would stay home with Victoria, or vice versa. I didn’t want that either. I love that we have more time together now, too. That’s been incredible for our family.

You can’t put a price on time and memories.

Lots of changes have happened since July. It’s been an interesting and exciting last 6 months.

Never be afraid to make changes for your family. Never be afraid to tell your kids why. Never be afraid to give your family the gift of each other. I was frightened to “break up” our routine and make it easier and more seamless for the kids. Confront it. Go for it.

The best part about change… you can always change again.

Press the pause button when you need to in life. You can ALWAYS un-pause it.