I am fast learning that having more than one child in school
for the month of May means the crazy busy schedule goes up exponentially. Add to that the stress of my husband’s work
hours starting their climb as the summer approaches and me attempting to get my
art studio and barn built from the ground up- ha ha! It’s good to throw in puns now and then
especially when I find I am taking myself way too seriously. But back to my point, I look around and see
most of our relatives and friends going through this very same May mania. It is like everyone is moving at such a
frenetic pace. Carpool line
conversations seem rushed on all accounts.
It’s like people can’t catch their breath. I was thinking back to when I was a kid and
wasn’t the one wearing these “parenting” shoes.
I remember how much I loved May.
It had that feeling of anticipation in the air. And for a kid who loved swimming and swim
team and the beach and the pool, there was so much to look forward to. Obviously there is so much to look forward to
in the summer as an adult as well, but between now and the last day of school,
I feel like there will be many late nights.
But I am also trying to remind myself to calm down, it will all get
done, and to take a breath every now and again because there are so many tiny
moments that are so worthy of me taking a pause.
One of those really really rare moments happened Saturday
morning. I had fed the baby around 6:30
in the morning and could not fall back asleep.
Every other member of the family had no problem snoozing away and they
were all packed like Saturday morning sardines in our bed. With the exception of Moxie, who has
discovered there are way less cramped spaces in which to sleep than with two
adults and three kicking kiddos in a king sized bed. I carefully tucked Bart in next to his
siblings and kept checking in on him from the hall as I went out in the kitchen
to make myself a ginormo(one of my new favorite words thanks to one of our
awesome pediatricians- she used it to describe the size of Bart’s melon) cup of
coffee. I also snapped some sweet
pictures of my monkeys in slumber. All
of them completely still. A.J. caught me
doing this and I honored his request of keeping him and his apnea mask out of
all the pictures. The sun was shining,
the house was still quiet and it was going to be a great day.
It is funny the things you tuck away in your memory. I know that what I will remember from this
Mother’s Day weekend are a few random things.
The highlight of my Saturday after my quiet cup of coffee to myself was
going to Michaels all by myself. Yes, I
am truly an art geek whose favorite stores are any sort of arts and crafts
store as well as Home Depot and Lowe’s.
I love the smells that make me all nostalgic and I love when I can
escape to one of these places all by myself.
Perusing art supplies or home improvement supplies with one, two, three
or all four children IS NOT RELAXING!! It is a race against the clock to make
it out of the store before one of the goons impales him/herself on something or
manages to create some sort of disaster, cleanup in aisle 5 situation. So the luxury of A.J. keeping all four kids
home so I could spend an hour buying some art supplies needed for Mother’s Day
gifts for our moms and my classes was an awesome gift. Now, my actual gifts from the kids and A.J.
are memorable as well: a classy honey badger t-shirt(Sawyer’s nickname) and
earrings and a necklace handpicked by Josie.
The jewelry gift is two-fold as anyone will tell you that when you wear
the gift, the excitement of your child and her pride in seeing you wearing it,
is priceless. And despite the fact that
sometimes I get cranky with so much going on, I am grateful for the gift of
time together with both sides of the family- A.J.’s on Saturday night and mine
on Sunday. I am lucky to have family who all get along and have fun
together.
So these special moments I keep tucked away and I know that
I need to remind myself of these.
Especially when Sawyer is throwing an unopened bag of potato chips
across the couch and jumping on it spread eagle over and over until it explodes
all over the cushions. Or when I feel
like my main job is short order cook to my three oldest kids whose current
diets consist of way too many fruit-by-the-foots and mac-n-cheese. Or when Jimmy asks me to help him unfasten the button on his shorts so he can go potty.
Then he leaves the shorts on the floor and runs back outside in his
t-shirt and boxer briefs and pees in the bush.
Because after all is said and done, I love these maniacs and am so happy
to be their mother.
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