Just breathe...and enjoy the moment.

Breathe.

Seriously, breathe.

I don't know who you are, or when you are finding time to read this.  Maybe it's during nap time, maybe it's while dinner is cooking, maybe your day has ended (sort of) for the night.  Perhaps you aren't a parent and you read this as a great means of free birth control...either way, just breathe.

Life can get busy, right?  Crazy in fact.  Some times I get in my routine, and even though nothing about it is "easy" I still operate on auto-pilot, not really enjoying what is going on around me.  I'm too "busy" to appreciate my craziness.  My wonderful, God blessed, most miraculous craziness.

I take pictures.  A lot.  And my picture taking hasn't really dwindled, but my ability to stop and look and really treasure the pics that I've taken sure has.  I feel like I'm constantly moving on to the next thing, the next mess, the next fight, the next diaper, the next...so on and so forth.  But today I actually looked at my pics.  And I was blown away at my amazing life...really - you should all be as blessed as I am.

 

 Luke picked out this AMAZING snuggy-esque blanket for Dave for Christmas.  Yes, it's plush.  And yes, it's red...of course, because Luke picked it out and EVERYTHING must be red because of Spiderman.  When Dave opened it, he had already been prepared by me and he acted genuinely thrilled - and then he asked me if we could return it.  I of course said no.  It sat in our room for a couple of weeks until Luke found it, and asked Dave why he never used the blanket.  Dave then realized it was more than a gift - it was Luke's special way of showing Dave how much he loved him.  So the next morning, Dave brought it down and cuddled with the kids when they first woke.  Notice, Luke is as "snuggled" in there as possible.

The kids and I were pretending that they were baby elephants and I was a tiger.  They hid in the cupboards, and I was able to get some cleaning done as long as I intermittently would yell, "ROARRRR!!!!"  Mental note:  This proved to be a win when needing to get some quick uninterrupted chores completed.

Yes Emma still sucks her thumb.  Yes, Lily still has her paci when she sleeps and for a short time after she wakes up.  And yes, Lily is in a diaper...still.  And yes, Emma is wearing Will's pajamas for some unknown reason.  But let me also point something out...they are happy!  They love each other.  They are all playing together so nicely...choo choo train in fact.  And when our days are said and done, my children have three best friends built in.  That's pretty cool.  And just for you who are still freaking out about the thumb, and the paci and the diaper - well...we are working on it - but I am taking offers on anyone who would like to do the potty training and the paci breaking themselves.  Thank you in advance.

 

In the "choo choo train" picture above, Emma is holding a box of bandaids.  We bought them for her at the dollar store - big spenders we are.  Anyway, she wants to be a pediatrician and for Christmas she got a book called "Nurse Nancy" that came with two bandaids.  She decided then, she needed her own supply of bandaids readily on hand so she could treat any and all owies that occur in our home.  I quickly learned that owies are a broad term...owies also mean, "a place in which I deem appropriate to stick a bandaid on because I am big sister and I am, quite honestly, the boss."  Thankfully, Will was a patient, um, patient.

And if Will was a patient patient, Lily was a hypochondriac - but a happy one.  In fact, she was sporting all these bandaids when I took her in for her 3 year check up.  Awesome I tell you.  Needless to say, the bandaids are all gone and I must make another trip to the dollar store to stock pile up on bandaids and have a secret stash on hand at all times.

 

And Luke bought his first thing with his own money...well, he paid for half of it.  And it's Hulk.  I don't like Hulk.  But we are working out a nice balance of playing with Hulk and pretending we are Hulk.  However, he is proud.  He had to spend ten dollars of his own money.  Later that day Emma decided to use some of her money to buy some jewelry for her and Lily.  She only spent five dollars however, and decided to continue to save the rest for when she buys a car and drives to Mexico.  And yes, please take note - I am changing a diaper in the background.  No, I will not miss diapers.  Yes, I will miss when they were babies...and it's quickly approaching when I will only have kids and no more babies...and I'm okay with that...just a bit sentimental.

Looking, really looking at my pictures today was a great refocus for me.  Take time to enjoy your life...don't rush through, waiting for the next "phase" because it will come quick enough.  And now that I've breathed enough, I am going to go sleep - for maybe ten minutes until the glorious craziness ensues.