Thankful - Part 2 - A Mother's Confession

After reading the list in my last post about all the not so typical things one mother is grateful for regarding her children, I felt like I should confess some of my ungrateful behaviors over the last couple days.

Like I said before I do love my children more than I have ever imagined being able to love anything, but I am not a patient person. I am also not usually a very flexible person, so when I get an idea in my head or have a vision of the way a certain event should go, its hard for me to accept anything different. So over the weekend when I had an opportunity to get a good deal on holiday photo cards I threw the kids into their outfits (which I have had set aside for the past month or two especially for Christmas pictures) and set them up in the living room expecting perfectly posed portraits of the two. Ha.

I really am ashamed to admit how frustrated I got with my 2 month old and three year old for not looking right in their pictures! Jack would put on this cheesy, toothy grin with his nose wrinkled up and eyes shut tight, while I tried to move Harper into some position that hid at least a couple of her chins. I was so busy and worried about making them look like the kids you see in magazines that I couldn't even see how beautiful and amazing they actually are. Cheesy and Chunky :)

I am making sound silly and it was, in the midst of my scolding and re-positioning I did laugh a little bit, but I really wish I would learn to enjoy these moments more and not try so hard to make every thing fit into the mold I have in my head. There are so many things I can learn from them if I would just admit that I don't know it all already. My kids are who they are and I wouldn't want them any other way. I just wanted to post a few of the shots I did get and say that I am grateful for these adorable, perfect blessings I am so lucky to have in my life.

Thankful - Part 1

I saw this on my friends blog this morning (I think she got it from another friends blog) and it moved me to tears. I love my kids more than anything but I don't think I have ever thought about them in this context before. Thank you Megan for posting this! It truly turned my day around :)

Thanksgiving usually inspires parents to start a diet. But if you’ll indulge with me for a while, I’d rather list a few things I’m grateful for as a mother.

I’m grateful my children demand I talk to them when I don’t feel like talking, feed them when I’m not hungry, and change their diapers even when I’m all dressed up and ready to go somewhere special. I don’t think I’d discover the world outside my own needs without them.

I’m grateful my children haven’t learned how to hold back their tears when they’re sad, laughter when they’re happy, or screams when they’re frightened. They constantly remind me that emotions are for sharing.

I’m grateful my children have broken nearly everything in my home and used a crayon or ink marker on the rest. They’ve taught me that things aren’t important, but people are.I’m grateful my children start out small and helpless so they don’t become aware of my incompetence until they’re teenagers. By then, we’ve both grown so accustomed to each other, we somehow manage to make it through the rest of life together.

I’m grateful my children get their pants dirty, pick their noses, burp without saying “excuse me,” and quarrel in public so I’ll never be able to get too arrogant, proper, or judgmental of other people’s children.

I’m grateful my children sometimes call me names like “weird” because sometimes I am “weird,” and it helps keep a person humble to be told they’re “weird” when they’re acting weird.I’m grateful my children occasionally miss the bus at the precise moment I’ve stepped out of the shower, contemplating the well-planned, organized day ahead of me. Experiences like jumping into the car after throwing on whatever’s handy and racing to school have a tendency to loosen rigid plans into something better known as spontaneity.

I’m grateful my children always need new shoes, piano books, prescriptions, haircuts, fieldtrip money, tuition, food, toothpaste, and underwear. That way, I don’t have to waste my time thinking about a new sofa. It’s difficult to get wealthy and think about luxuries when you have to buy toilet paper and milk by the truckload each week.

I’m grateful my children know how to play. My five-year-old asked me to come downstairs so he could “teach me how to play” with his plastic animals. While Jacob demonstrated the subtle techniques for sinking a rhinoceros into couch cushions while pretending it was quicksand, I realized my young son was right. I really do need someone to “teach me how to play.”

I’m grateful my children question my every command and giggle when I get angry. It’s difficult to feel too powerful or self-righteous with kids around to remind you of how funny you look when you’re pointing your finger.I’m grateful my children insist I hug, kiss, rock, or put my arms around them often. Otherwise, I think I’d forget how the sense of touch is so healing.

I’m grateful each of my children is unique when the same strange, inexperienced mother raised them. Somehow they don’t seem to let me ruin them much.

And lastly, I’m grateful for the gift of children in my life. God willing, I’d like to fill the rest of my days with those interesting people who call me Mom (yes, and sometimes “weird”) but eventually “weird grandma.”

List by Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard
Click here to read the original article.

Harper Playing

Harper Talking <3

More Harper Smiles :)

Holy cow its been two weeks already since our last post!! Baby girl has changed so much even since then!! She's sleeping great now... 10 to 3am then 3 to 6! So nice for mommy! We also met with her surgeon about a week ago and decided to go ahead with the surgery for her little tummy. Its an outpatient procedure and only takes and hour or two, and the doctor assured us she will be back to normal in just a couple days. We're really excited to see our little girl with out a golf ball on her belly. He also said it may help with her gas issues, which will be wonderful, since I have now cut out all dairy, CHOCOLATE, and anything greasy or fried, from my diet in hopes of relieving her from some of her gas pains :( Anyways here's some new pics of the happy girl...