The Mommy moments

Since I was a child, I've always wanted to be a Mom. I imagined myself with a house full of happy, creative children...inspiring them, teaching them, loving them. And while life doesn't always pan out the way you imagine it will, I feel like I have a large piece of that dream...I have a happy, creative child and the privilege of being able to be with her full time. But I don't always feel like I do the best job of appreciating this great gift.

I don't know if it's the fact that we're stuck inside a lot or that I have a houseful of small, demanding, diaper-wearing people to care for five days a week...but I feel like I spend a lot of my time feeling frustrated and stretched to the limits of my patience.

I'm sure part of this comes from the fact that Olivia is...well...active. She is always thinking, doing, talking, running...always on the move. She is so smart. And if I can devote all my attention to her, she's typically an absolute angel. It's the moment that I am distracted (which is often...hello, I have three other kids here during the week!) that she pursues trouble, and she doesn't stop until she finds it.

Occasionally, I need to do something important like fix dinner AND keep Olivia out of trouble at the same time. I'm getting better at it...I can anticipate trouble based on the level of activity or silence in the background. But I really need to sprout another three or four pairs of eyes to keep on top of her activities all of the time. It gets better and worse as she gets older. She's getting better at listening to instructions, but she's also getting more creative at her trouble making when she decides to ignore the rules.

Recently, though, I've started to take notice of certain moments when I am reminded of the special blessing of motherhood. Like when I wake Olivia from her nap and she's not quite awake, so she likes to snuggle on my lap for awhile. Occasionally during the day she'll bring a book and sit on my lap to read. Or she'll offer a hug or kiss and say, "I love you so much, Mommy." And I remember just how blessed I am to be a Mom.

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We got a little gift from the Spring fairy this weekend...the weather warmed up, the snow melted, and it was actually warm enough to play outside for a good deal of the weekend. We took full advantage of this little glimpse of Spring. Olivia would like you to know that she had a very, very nice weekend.
See you next week!