my house is usually messy, but my kids are usually happy

I have a new rule.

No Housework Shall Be Done if the Children Are Sleeping.

I know the conventional wisdom is that if one finds oneself with a big kid at school and two tiny ones napping, the most advantageous use of that time would be the cleaning of the kitchen or the folding of the laundry.

And to those people I say -- folded laundry is overrated and a messy kitchen is the sign of a happy mama.

The pots and pans left on the stove, the cutting board covered in crumbs, the dishes forgotten on the counter or the table; this clutter that congregates like vagrants in the park is simply a sign that I've been cooking food for my family to eat.

The tiny socks, the sweatpants with holey knees, the towels and the t-shirts that erupt like volcanoes from laundry baskets that are beginning to acquire the status of living room furniture; these are merely proof that at least I'm washing our clothes.

But more importantly, my messy kitchen and my piles of laundry speak another truth. When my kids are awake, I'm busy playing with them. And when and if my babies are sleeping, my feet are up with my nose in a book or my pen to the paper.

I have come to learn that the best way for me to spend that time, the most productive use of that time, is for me to be reading or writing or recharging myself by some other means.

I've gotten to the point where I don't even feel guilty about it anymore.(Maybe I feel a little guilty for not feeling guilty, but does that really count?)

That half hour of overlapping naps recharges me. It gets my brain working in a way that differs from how it's used throughout the rest of the day. It allows me time to reflect. It makes me happy.

The downside of this habit is that my family has to dig through laundry baskets full of clean clothes to find something to wear. And my kitchen is never clean.

But I think that's a small price to pay for a happy mama. And thankfully, my family agrees.