We are Family...

Sister Sledge aside...Do you ever look at your children and think that the insane amount of love you have for them is probably not healthy?  I think that often.  I had one of those mornings where my house got very...quiet.  Eeriely quiet...suspiciously quiet.  I started poking about from room to room...calling out their names.  No takers.  I went to the door and looked out.  There was Claire, heading across the lawn...green jammie pants getting soaked with dew, carrying a Little Tykes chair with her.  On a mission.  The destination:  The old chicken coop.  Pretty soon the other two  poked their heads out--apparently they had decided this morning that the old chicken coop was an excellent "clubhouse" for them...until Payton spotted a ball of fuzz she decided MUST be a mouse bed...and back in they came.  I LOVE that my children are buds.  That was the entire reason I suffered  went through three back-to-back pregnancies...because I wanted them to have playmates...instant and unwavering friends.  Granted, I know this can also cause a share of squabbles and chaos, but I wouldn't want it any other way.  Something as simple as watching that little girl head determinedly across the lawn, to the expectant faces of her brother and sister completely validates my life path...I AM a mother...(rawr)...

She's a Brick House...

     I was lying in bed last night thinking...I miss being pregnant.  (Now don't go getting any ideas, that ship has sailed...it was purely...reminiscent.)  Now, I am not referring to the tiredness, nausea, awkwardness, or overactive bladder...but the simple act of being pregnant.  You are not just you when you are pregnant...you are YOU...miracle worker...procreator...creator of human life.  The world looks more kindly upon you.  People smile at you more, they hold doors for you, they offer to carry things for you, and my Leo/Dragon persona reveled in it.  When pregnant, you are always accomplishing something.  Taking a nap?  Laying around on the couch?  Fabulous, you are not wasting time...you are growing a baby!  And that, my friends, is hard work!
     Pregnancy always made me in giggle in that it was such an outwardly public statement of what you have really been up to.  I mean, walk around with a big pregnant belly and there is just no denying it--and even as a happily married woman...I still found this slightly amusing.  It's no wonder that years ago, it was not polite to discuss a women's "delicate condition."  Although there is nothing "delicate" about being pregnant.  Ginormous?  Yes.  Delicate?  Not so much. 
     Whenever these pregnancy whims happen upon me, I have to remind myself of such things...and push my attention-seeking desires at bay...because really, as a mom, you may lose the kind admiration of perfect strangers you receive as a pregnant person, but you gain the undeniable admiration of these tiny people you create.  In my children's eyes I am a rock star...which brings me to my next entry...

Through the Eyes of a Child...

     So being the...curious mom that I am, I was probing Carter last night to see if I could get a feel for where he sat...in comparison to the rest of the class.  (Okay, so I know it's stupid, but don't judge me, I'm sure every parent has wondered the same thing from time to time!)  I was asking him if they have started doing Guided Reading yet.  He said they had.  I nonchalantly said, "Oh really, what group are you in?" 
     Carter proudly declared, "The Green Apples!"  (Okay, this was not going to help me out...so much for an actual Guided Reading letter like Payton's groups were last year...)  So I thought I'd try a different approach...
     "Which group do you think has the hardest books?" I asked.
     Carter thought for a moment and then said, "Oh, that would be the Peach Umbrellas!"
     "Really?"  I said lightly, my heart sinking.  "You've seen their books, and they are pretty hard, huh?"
     Carter nodded his head, eyes wide, "Oh yes!  I've seen their books and they are really hard!  There last two were almost completely in Spanish, and THAT would be really hard for me to read!"
     I looked into his open little face, smiled, nodded and said, "You are right Carter, that would be really hard for us to do, wouldn't it?"  Done probing.