This morning, I woke up feeling a bit achy and blah, and so I took a major risk...I ran a hot bath while I left my children to finish breakfast and do chores! Yes, even with the oldest being 10, this can be risky! As I was relaxing for a few minutes, I remembered an incident that happened about 5 years ago, and I finally laughed about it!
5 years ago, I had a five year old, a 3 1/2 year old, a 22 month old and an 8 month old...in other words, a house full of insanity! The Mr. and I always refer to these special times as the years of survival! :) I needed to be somewhere ON TIME that evening...very important to be ON TIME! I also wanted to leave the house in clean order because the rest of the week was going to be busy. I spent the entire day cleaning like a mad woman. As it was getting closer to the time for us to leave, I bathed all the kiddos and got them ready to go and left myself an entire whopping 30 minutes to shower and dress myself. For those of you who know me, this is not very much time, and then when you add 4 small kiddos to the mix, it's really not enough time.
I left all the kids playing nicely in their rooms and reminded Evvie (the 5 year old) to come and get me if she needed me. I jumped into the shower and was in there for approximately 2.5 minutes when I heard this strangely familiar creaking noise. I knew it was the opening of our wood stove. I called Evvie's name several times, but she didn't answer. I finished up in the shower, jumped out, wrapped up, and stepped out the door to look down the hall and see....my 22 month old pouring ashes all over my 8 month old. My freshly bathed and clothed babies were COVERED in ash, and I haven't even described the house with all the ash flying around!
I was so exhausted and stressed that the only thing I could think of was how I was going to clean up the babies and all the mess and get myself dressed in 20 minutes! I was a crying mess! I quickly bathed and dressed them again, went and put all the kids in their car seats and came back inside to finish dressing myself with the last 5 minutes I had.
I dropped the kids off at the baby sitter's house and made it to my appointment 10 minutes late. When I explained to the group why I was late, I was appalled when they all began to laugh and several even asked if I took pictures!?! What? There was nothing cute about that!!! I was hoping they would back up my idea that this was uncalled for - an unnecessary and rude interruption! Poor, sweet mom! And the only response I got was, "How cute!"
Five years later, I wish I had taken pictures of them, and I can laugh at the craziness of it all. As I look back on my first years of being a mom, I wish that I had enjoyed my little ones more. I wish that I had laughed at their explorations - even if they did cause an amazing amount of mess. That is one thing that I have made sure I do more of with our youngest. So...today tired mom of littles, remember that this time goes by so quickly and one day, you will sit back and remember the craziness and actually wish you could do it again! Remember, mom of older kids, each season has its ups and downs. Enjoy the moments we've been given. Make the best out of the inconvenient moments. See things through the eyes of your children - no matter what ages they are - because this moment will soon be gone.
Today, I am thankful for the memories God allows us to keep and for the lessons we learn as we go through this journey. And I'm even thankful for that silly 22 month old Garrett who poured ashes all over his little sister!
Wishing you a day full of blessings,
Christy
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