Today

I'm a mom.

I find play-doh stuck to my clothes.

I wipe baby drool on my pants.

It's usually 2pm before I'm showered and dressed for the day.

I worry about my kids' needs first and usually that means I eat lunch anywhere between 11:30am-3pm when I can get a few bites in sparingly.

Today I had these great plans of finishing my talk for church on Sunday, working on the Etsy store (which I'm months and months behind on), doing all the laundry, and re-organizing the kids' room. Realistically I'm looking at a late night of talk-preparation -- and that will probably be the extent of my personal accomplishments before bed.

Some days I sit on the couch and think of all the free time I would have, all the books I could read, all the cleaning I would get done, if I didn't have to worry about changing diapers, soothing sad babies, and nursing Edwin...

But then I think about all the years that I sat on the couch feeling left out of the "mommy-club" and wishing that I could just have a baby of my own to snuggle, dress, laugh with, and take care of :)

 

My days are not without challenges. Kate and Edwin test my patience to its limits.

that's an entire pack of wipes...

 

But there is also not a day that goes by that they don't make me laugh with the cute things they say or do; like when Kate wears underwear on her head, or piles toys into Edwin's crib for him because she thinks he is lonely, or when the two of them are laughing as Margo chases her ball around the floor.

As I write this blog post one handed with a sleepy baby on my shoulder saying, "na-na-na-na" in my ear, I'm just glad that I get to be here at home.

 

Today I was able to give the kids baths, I braided Kate's hair,

 

I have the energy to lift them up on the changing table and clean their messy bums (which may not seem like a big deal, but yesterday I was crazy sick, and it was one of the hardest things in the world), and I even did a couple loads of laundry already! I don't know why it's so hard sometimes to focus on the successes rather than the negatives.

There are always a million things I could get done. But today I am just grateful to be a mom.