Life seems to pass by so quickly. 34 years seems so small yet I can say that I can look back on each year and see all the wonderful things that have happened. This year was something that I can't explain fully other than by saying that I've never been so full of happiness and commitment to make our family full of love.
December of this past year marked 16 years since the day I met Jeff. You read in books about these stupid notions of love at such a young age, but I can say with all honesty that I knew from the time I was 17, he was the person I wanted to spend my life with. Taking the role of wife 7 1/2 years ago was this unbelievable experience. Being a part of a team to take on the world and build a life together is amazing.
I knew things would change and I can't say how overpowering that change was when I became a mother. Wonderful things come with the name mom. You spend 10 months preparing for this new role. Your body changes and these crazy hormones take over. With each pregnancy, I grew more and more in love with having this tiny being growing inside my belly. The miracle of life is something so amazing. The feeling of tiny hands and feet moving around and their little body doing flips in your belly is something you can't imagine unless you've had the chance to do it. I feel like I took for granted the awesomeness of it the first time around and cherished every moment the second and third time.
Then when you feel like you can't wait any longer, the time comes to meet this wonderful life that was created. As moving as it was to hold each of our children in my arms, I was the most emotional seeing my husband hold each of our children with tears in his eyes. Those precious moments are seared into my memory. Being able to give someone the gift of being a father was just as special to me as becoming a mother.You hear often that being a mom to a newborn is the hardest job you'll ever do. It isn't. It is the most rewarding. I enjoyed every midnight feeding, every opportunity to snuggle with this amazing baby who knows you are there to love and care for them.
All of our children are spaced 3 years apart which has made this year even more fun. We have this baby who reminds us how fast life moves, a 3 year old who shows this tenacity to learn through her preschool years, and a 6 year old who is embarking on her journey to discovering who she is and wants to be. We are living three huge life stages at once and each one of them remind us to cherish all the little moments. Each year we learn how to be a better parent by understanding an accepting our faults and rejoicing in our wins. Being home on maternity leave this year helped me to be able to take a step back and realize how wonderful life is and can be when you sit back and take it all in. As much as I want to slow down these years so we can remember and enjoy every moment, I am excited to see what comes as we grow older. We get to see our children form into people and personalities. There will be family memories, athletic events, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, dances, driving, college, weddings and eventually I'll get to see them each become parents and feel these great emotions I am relishing more and more.
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| As you can see, life is never still with these three, but it is worth every minute. |
