Yesterday, in one store alone, I had five different people say that exact same thing! I often times will respond with, "Yes they are! Full of such good things!"
The other day though the check out lady wouldn't let it go at that. She said to me, "Yeah, just keep on telling yourself that!"
Is being a mother really a curse? Is that how it is perceived in the eyes of some people? Do they look at me in pity at the chore I have of raising up these three young children?
I have been so incredibly thankful for the individuals who have spoken such wonderful truths to me instead. With comments like:
"You are so blessed!"
"Triple treasure!"
"You are one busy Mama with one full heart!"
The other day the four of us were out having lunch together and this elderly woman sat down at a table near ours. She kept glancing our way and smiling. Pretty soon she made her way over to talk with us. She commented to me how much she loved seeing so many children in our family, how wonderful that time was in her life when she raised hers up, and she told me just to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy every minute because it goes so quickly!
I feel pretty fortunate myself. :)
There are moments when my life just does not seem like reality, and the things that are happening can't surely be happening, and the things that my children are doing they surely aren't actually doing, and the fact that I'm their mother and responsible for raising these three and being an example for them to follow must truly be some type of practical joke!
But it is true that Peter and I have never yet met face to face. I have yet to sit down with my family on the couch and tune in to that episode where we laugh and laugh about the joke that was played on me.
Instead I laugh at the moments in this life that leave me shaking my head, completely amused, overwhelmed, blessed, and sweaty.
Take for instance, a quick little trip to the store this morning. I had all the kids loaded up in one of those mega carts. Boys strapped in the back, Adelyn in the carrier up front, and off we went. The shopping itself went fine, but then the boys wanted to help me through the self check out line. "Eh, what could it hurt?" I thought to myself. And so I let them out. All of the sudden there were four little arms everywhere, into everything. Everything I tell ya. Scanning everything they could get their hands on. Ethan even tried to scan his shoe. I then found Grayson taking things out of bags that I had already scanned and scanning them again. At the same time Ethan was standing up on top of his seat trying to grab some gum and candy bars and scan those. It was chaos. Complete and total pandemonium. Peter, come on out anytime now.
[pan-duh-moh-nee-uhm]
–noun
1. wild uproar or unrestrained disorder; tumult or chaos.
2. a place or scene of riotous uproar or utter chaos. (a.k.a. My Life)
The plan quickly changed. The boys were strapped back in with the promise of food being opened in the car as soon as we got ourselves there. I had to reassess everything and figure out what was and was not yet purchased. As the little man at the door said goodbye to us as we left, I was grimacing, certain that we were going to set off the detectors with some merchandise that had snuck by in our cart. But I was able to breathe a sigh of relief as we quietly passed through those doors and out to the car.
The second example comes from this afternoon during nap time. I use that term very loosely as it relates to this story. The boys fought their naps to save their lives today. They just did not want to lay down and go to sleep. After dealing with them for over an hour they were finally laying still, eyes closing, under the blankets, and I was assured that they were certainly drifting off for a couple hour rest. Adelyn was also sound asleep, and I figured it would be a good time to head out and quickly mow the lawn so Chris wouldn't have to deal with it this evening. I got the lawn mowed, and upon returning the house I saw that the receiver to Adelyn's monitowas no longer working. I thought it was a bit strange, but didn't think much of it. Sometimes the base in her room just needs to be reset. I then thought I had perhaps heard a muffled voice. I went to the bottom of the stairs and listened. Sure enough, I heard some giggles. As I approached the top of the stairs I could hear Ethan's voice saying "Adie! Adie!" It then occured to me that the voice from my son was coming out of my daughter's bedroom. I opened her door and saw Adelyn sitting there in her crib with this stunned look on her face, obviously woken. Her blinds had been opened up, her monitor had been unplugged, clothes strewn across the floor from her dresser, Grayson was underneath her crib and Ethan was standing on the rails popping her pacifier in and out of her mouth. It was totally a Peter moment.
I did quick damage control, ushered the boys out of the room, and calmed Adie down to see if she wanted to go back to sleep. (She did). The boys at this point were wired. Completely revved up and in no mood to take a nap. I instead had them sit on the couch where I told them that I needed to talk to them. I asked them, "Did you get out of your beds during nap time and go in to Adelyn's room?" They both said, "Yeths." Grayson then added, "I climbed o-o-o-over (*he has the cutest little stutter right now!) gate" (We have a gate up in their door for nap time, it obviously does a lot of good.) Ethan then said, "That was so much fun! Do it again morrow!" How do you keep a straight face and reprimand them when your precious little two year boys have this look of absolute glee on their face recounting their exciting adventure in their sister's bedroom. Ei yi yi. I kept my stern voice, but had to turn my entire face away from them for a few moments while I regained my composure.
:)
Adelyn's little body is yearning for adventure. Wiggling in my arms, she makes her desire known to get down and explore the world around her - climbing stairs, playing with her brothers' toes as they eat their breakfast, standing in her crib and giggling at her Mama when she enters the room to scoop her up. It is hard for this Mother of hers to believe that she is nearly 11 months old.
Grayson and Ethan have replaced referring to themselves in third person ("Ethan do it." "Hold you Mommy.") with appropriate phrasing like "I did it!" and "Look at ME!"
These past days have been full of all kinds of firsts for these children of ours, and in turn firsts for Chris and I as we witness them doing something new literally every day. Swimming in a lake, first boat ride, going to Uncle Eldon's yearly cabin trip, meeting some aunts and uncles for the first time...
It is an amazing ride, this parenting gig!
The front of our home
The back
Living room
View of the back yard
My nephew Micah and brother Michael
What's the 4th of July without a game of chicken?
Grayson got up the guts to try the slide. Ethan followed. They didn't want to stop!
My brother David and his girlfriend Sarah
Micah and Adelyn in their own private pool
My sister Hayley and myself
Sarah and I
Passing some time before the drive in movie starts!
And to end...Adelyn demonstrating her skills. Oh those little thighs. And those feet. Oh my goodness! :)
