Monday, March 3, 2014

Motherhood and Gratitude

Motherhood is a funny thing sometimes... it can be the most crazy, frustrating, exhausting job on the planet one minute, and then be the most awesome, rewarding, fun job the next! Right now it is the latter, so I'm going to take a second to write down why. Last night the congestion and runny nose hit me hard and I knew that today would be a pajamas and TV day while I tried to rest and get better. I expected it to be a bad day... kids whining and fighting with me too tired and sick to handle it well. But that is not how this day has gone. Despite me not feeling the best, it is turning out to be a great day! And that is because of my wonderful children who continue to surprise and amaze me.

This morning Ezra went right back to sleep after I fed him and Maybrie and Thomas left me and each other alone the whole morning. They watched movies, played on the iPad, and played with toys by themselves and let me go back to bed. I know it is a huge blessing to be able to lay down and not worry that my kids will destroy the house. Maybrie is helpful and Thomas is so easy-going. I totally let them have cereal and oatmeal for lunch... we all deserve easy meals on sick days. While I was on the computer after lunch Thomas came and handed me his shirt and jeans to get dressed, and Maybrie followed having dressed herself. I guess they didn't like my idea of staying in pajamas all day! When did they get old enough to do that on their own?! Thomas is starting to outgrow his naps and usually plays in his room for 30 minutes, then comes out and says, "I wake up!" Today he said he wanted to nap on the couch, so he laid down and was out before one episode of Chuggington was over. The boys are now both napping and Maybrie is watching Disney Junior. I have a quiet house. It is wonderful. Part of today's beauty is that we don't have any appointments to run to so I don't have to force the children to comply with my timeline. I love lazy days where I don't have to rush us out the door anywhere. Sometimes it is nice to just be home and enjoy each other's company.

There are many moments in life when I want to speed things up... get to the next vacation, past the next semester, into our own home, etc. But today I kind of want to freeze time. Ezra is such a good, sweet baby and love snuggling him. Thomas has the cutest voice, personality, and stockiness, I just want to squeeze and kiss on him all the time. Maybrie is so bright, creative, and enthusiastic about learning. They are growing up so fast! The reality is that I have no control over time, just how I enjoy it. I hope I can continue to look for and focus on the good in each phase my children pass through, rather than dwelling on the frustrating things and wishing it would end. There will always be good and bad things they do at every age. I can either let the bad drag me down or look at the good to pull me through the rough patches. I don't blog to brag about the great things we do or how perfect my kids are (because both are the exception rather than the norm), but because I want to focus on the good in my life. I want to remind myself of my many blessings and why I keep trying day in and day out to make myself and my family better. I need to remember the rewards so that I will keep working for them. Motherhood is hard but it is also oh so good!

My new goal: To record the tender moments that occur each week on my blog. So basically, a gratitude journal... but more like a brief list of the nice, cute, or funny things my kids do each week. Hopefully if I start looking for these moments to record, I will start seeing them more readily and more often. I will jot them down in the notes on my phone so I don't forget and then transfer them to the blog. To get started I will share a few that I noted over the past few months and forgot to write down.

Favorite words/phrases that Thomas says:
-Donkin (Dolphin) show
-Bikelcycle (bicycle)
-Open the door! (yes, we lock them in their room)
-Where are you?
-I don't like it! (to most food)
-I wake up!
-a wittle (little) bit
-Evra (Ezra)
-I be careful (climbing on couch, or with Ezra)

Maybrie:
-Morether
-Firstest
-a hundred (anything that is a lot is a hundred!)
-Listing a sequence of events while counting each thing on her fingers... she loves to make plans (and do things HER way!)
-At breakfast the other day she asked me if I knew what "popping the question" is and if daddy did it to me. When I told her our engagement story and how Brian put the ring in chocolate ice cream she laughed and said, "Daddy loves to trick people!"

Yes, I can see this is a good idea already. Just typing these out made me smile. It's going to be a good week!



 




No comments:

Post a Comment