Enjoy the Silence

Is it noisy in your house? I'm going to guess yes, if you have children that live at home. (See how I qualified that? My mother in law reads this blog, she has a child, but it's quiet at her house because he doesn't live there. Although...since we're talking about Matt, it was probably quiet at her house when he was living at home...he's a quiet kind of guy). So let me qualify that again. I bet it's noisy at your house if you have chatty or rambunctious or many children :)

My dear six year old wakes up talking in the morning and talks till she goes to bed at night. When my alarm goes off in the morning and I lay in my bed for a few minutes, I can hear her either talking to the TV or reading a book aloud to herself.

My dear two year old screeches at her sister a lot, and runs a lot. She weighs 23 lbs but she does not have quiet pitter-patters. She's a maniac, what can I say.

Wouldn't trade either one of them for the world.

But sometimes I just want to enjoy some silence. I want to shut off any unnecessary noise. Biggest example: bathtime. Matt is primarily in charge of bath time, and I usually help by taking Hannah at the end and getting her dried off and jammied. Anyways, the girls (the noisy ones) take a bath together. We all know that the bathroom does not have the most pleasurable accoustics in the house. Matt puts the girls in the tub, sits down and relaxes against the wall, and turns the radio on. And it's not quiet-- because you have to be able to hear it over the girls-- and it makes me insane. I hate going into that bathroom during bath time with that radio on. When he turns it on, it's like nails on the chalkboard to me.... so I usually busy myself in the hallway or the girls' rooms working on laundry or something until I am needed, thereby avoiding as much of the chaotic noise as possible.

Tonight, Matt went to bed, I turned the TV off, and I turned my laptop off (thereby shutting off the whirring noise of the laptop-fan). I leaned back and closed my eyes...and I enjoyed the silence. I breathed deep and I felt myself relax. It was great. And then I took some time to sit there and really listen.

Silence is a relative term, did you know that? Because our house is not completely silent by any means. But it was silent to me. I listened with my eyes closed...I could hear the ceiling fan going, and it made the vertical blinds on the picture window rustle occasionally. I could hear the ice maker fill up with water. I heard the faint sound of a dog barking down the street. I heard a car drive by. But it was a peaceful few moments, enjoying "my silence."

You should try it. Just shut it all down after the kids are in bed, close your eyes, breathe deep, and enjoy the silence. I think I need to do that once or twice a day.

Especially right before or right after bath time.