More of Less

At the start of this month the word that kept coming up for me was more.  More of my kids,  more time with Sean, more of the things I find the most joy in.  What is becoming clearer is the way to more is less.
We have always been on top of releasing the clutter and keeping things cleaned out for the most part, but this also mean downsizing the amount of things we bring home or purchase. It has been easier to keep this perspective, even through the holidays for a few reasons. One being that we have been strapped financially so we were very conscious about having a small and meaningful Christmas with our kids and two I do not want to buy anything that we will have to sell or purge before moving, and we will likely take very little with us due to the cost of transporting things over seas. If we really want more of our kids, it means they will need to be surrounded by less and so will we. Less distractions with things to keep them playing with each other and interacting with us instead of their things.
As parents I think we are often told with more kids we need more space. Honestly, often I feel like we need more space, and the definition of more space increased when we moved to the South. Housing down here is much bigger! However, as we have moved and obtained more space, I have realized it did not change the amount of private or even quiet time we were able to find as parents. Our kids often do what I call herding, which means no matter what room Sean or I are in, they collect around us like a little herd. The smaller the room the more they seem to herd! I find myself standing in the middle of 3 medium and 1 tiny human at the bathroom sink more times that I care to count. More space has not really brought more happiness or more peace, instead it has often made both Sean and I feel lonely or sad and worried about our one kid whose room is at the opposite end of the house. As a mom, I have often felt the need to herd my little brood all together when the lights are out and we are at rest. Just this week, after feeling tearful over this very thing and talking it over with Sean we asked Archie if he liked being in his room alone farther away, and he said no, he doesn't like sleeping alone.  He said the rest of the family is all in one hall as a unit, and he is all by himself (cue more motherly tears), so we are moving him up to share some space with his sister and be in the fold with us. Last night as we all went to sleep along the same hall way it felt better, less lonely, right for us at night. We will need less space but likely more boundaries as we are trying to teach the small herd to respect when one of us steps away for a minute of quiet or alone time. I am not sad about the idea of moving into a small English cottage in Cambridgeshire or Bury St. Edwards. Instead as we are looking for more of the things that matter, I am looking forward to more quiet, more together, and less distraction.