Recent thoughts

With 5 children occupying the whole of my time, they are always in my thoughts. I have tried recently to express how grateful I am for them, but somehow my thoughts don't translate to words adequate enough to describe it. So I'm giving it another go. I usually do better when I write, anyway. When I was first pregnant with Sophie, I was more than ecstatic, but also nervous to tell people. I thought that since she is the fifth, people would wonder if we had planned to have her, or think that I just kept having babies without thinking because we've been told to multiply and replenish. While we did get some comments in this line of thinking, I was grateful that for the most part people were happy and supportive. I still didn't feel that they could fully understand how happy I was. Over the past several months I have continued to burst with joy about my children, but never really able to express it without sounding cheesy (like I am now). Then recently I read a blog of a friend of mine that described her children as yummy. As you know from several other posts, I can relate well to food. She said her children were like a chocolate cake that you just couldn't eat enough of, and that you always went back for more. This described my thoughts perfectly, so I stole it.

I love spending time with my kids. I love when I sit down and I have five children climbing on me with books to read or tummies to tickle. I love listening to them play and the creative things they come up with. I love watching them learn and get excited about different things. I love planning meals that all of them get excited about (which is not often enough). I love hearing the things they say, like when Anna asked how to spell something and said, "I already wrote the 'what'" when she meant to say 'y.' I love hearing the ideas they come up with, like Tyler's ideas for making a dinosaur movie which are much more involved than we are able to do. I love watching them dance and sing and cuddle with their dad. I love quiet moments. I love moments when we are loud and crazy. I love the times when I know just what to say or do that will calm a fit. Basically, I love being a Mom. Of course, there are moments when I want to hide or just go away for a little while. But I will always want to come back because I will be greeted with hugs and kisses and shouts of "Mommy's home!" I know I sound cheesy and crazy, but I just had to express how happy I am for what I've got.

Last night as I was saying our family prayer and thanking our Heavenly Father for our blessings, I couldn't help but notice that Sophie was smiling at me. I thought that really sums it all up. These five children and my husband are my biggest blessings and those little smiles are what keep me going when times get tough.

So, now I'm done being a cheesy mom. Tomorrow I'll probably have lots of the moments that make me want to run and hide and have to take all this back. But for now, this is what you get, and this is what I hope I remember when I'm all grown up.