Today was started after a sleepless night, before sunrise, with a fussy baby.
Today was leaving my room, baby on hip, and finding two little girls standing proudly in a clean living room. Today was hearing, “We just wanted to clean for you!”
Today was chocolate muffins and milk for breakfast.
Today was making it on time to the movie theater.
Today was laughing at my kids in WalMart as they joked around with each other.
Today was sticking to the shopping list for a change.
Today was smiling with the cashier as we talked about kids.
Today was coming home happy and so tired every step I took seemed like an event to be applauded.
Today was strawberry stained fingers and smiles while preparing our favorite lunch. (roasted chicken, a bit of salad, a bit of veggies, a couple strawberries, a half a peach)
Today was, “Mom look what I did, Mom look what I made, Mom looked what I colored, Mom look at my toy, Mom look at this, Mom did you hear that, Mom is this funny?”
Today was thinking of my husband as I cleaned the kitchen and planned dinner.
Today was very full and very good and over in the blink of an eye.
Today was lived.
And tomorrow will be the same. I will be present for it. I won’t miss it as I’m busy with the must-do tasks of motherhood. I will look up from peeling potatoes or scrubbing pots. I will put down the book or the phone buzzing with text messages and pull a child close for an unexpected hug. I will listen to what they are saying and respond with what will make them feel good about themselves and know that I care.
There will be so much more.
And in all of this there won’t be time for blogging.
Yes, I’m taking a break from blogging for a while. I’ll be back this fall.
I’ll leave this post with the pictures I took this week.
It’s been such a full week!
Ember learned to clap.
We made our weekly library trip.
The kids love storytime more every time we go. We kept a few books from last week, the desert ones, to enjoy for a bit longer. We read all of the new books a few times over within the first day 🙂
Ember helped me take the weekly book picture.
More clapping. She gets so happy and proud when we cheer with her over her new trick.
Quiet kids and a stack of books, one of my favorite moments.
It was a beautiful, and hot, evening.
The next morning there was even more reading.
There have been attempted naps. I got an hour and Allan got four!
We’ve shuddered over the taste of banana.
We kept mommy up literally all night. After letting mommy sleep for a whopping hour we looked so dang cute that we were forgiven.
We can’t help it if we’re sick and don’t feel well!
Why I am typing “we?”
Anyway, this girl is too freaking cute!
Brooklyn was sitting on one of those small child’s chairs when it suddenly broke. She asked me to take a picture of her resulting scratch. She had a couple other scraps on her leg and thigh!
I’ve been wanting an ipod for a very long time. To take music with me all through the house and out on jogs and in the car. It’s been a fun toy this week. lol
Music makes the mundane chores a little more pleasant.
Watching TV in your undies is the best way to watch TV.
Brooklyn and Ember were still asleep.
Getting to spend time with only two of my kids at a time is always such a treat.
This little girl turned 9 months old.
This boy had some cranky days because he’s been a super picky eater and is hungry all the time.
The littlest kids had a bath after baby sister got milk everywhere and big brother got a haircut.
Being 9 months old is a lot of work. You wouldn’t believe the amount of stuff in this house there is to take out and toss around!
Not to mention the mirros to bang on and reflection to giggle with!
But he leaves and so I’m left to bang this chair alone.
Have you seen my mommy’s makeup cart? It’s super fun!
If you bring diapers and wipes on errands and decide to leave them in the car since you just changed your baby and surely she won’t poop again until after the movie.
You’re wrong.
You should bring the diapers and wipes in with you otherwise you might find yourself taking your own shirt off to fashion into a temporary cloth diaper in the movie theater bathroom.
(Notice the purple poking out of the back of her bottoms? That’s my shirt. lol)
Well behaved children in public places make me very happy 🙂 lol
We went to WalMart and I wasn’t stressed out once! Miracle!
We actually had fun shopping for food. Unbelievable!
Ember fell asleep and looked so sweet I snapped a couple pictures.
And she stayed asleep when I moved her from the carrier to the carseat and I was happy because that meant I didn’t have to nurse her in the car before heading home!
Sierra was very specific about how she wanted her hair.
We got home and Payson played with his new Rainbow Dash.
He’s always left out while the girls play My Little Ponies so he was begging me for a Rainbow Dash (he thinks rainbow dash is a boy when they watch the TV show) and so I said of course he could have one.
The very first thing he did was pretend Rainbow Dash was a monster and chased the other ponies.
That’s my boy 🙂
Speaking of ponies… the kids played with them on the kitchen counter for a good hour.
They wanted a picture of all their ponies lined up.
These two are Sierra’s. (she wants more for Christmas)
And all these are Brooklyn’s. (she bought them with her birthday money)
Payson begs me to draw Lightning McQueen all the time. So I do.
Then he erases the tires and draws them back on in red. He hates when I use black for the tires! lol
His expression when I told him he could color on the whiteboard if he wanted to.
And those are all the pictures from this last week. Whew!