"Cherish every moment." said the woman with a sigh, "I'd give anything for them to be small again." I smiled and kept on pushing my cart full of not-so-well-behaved-at-the-moment children and finished up shopping. I can't tell you how many sweet ladies have stopped me to say something similar over the years. I also get lots of, "Sure looks like you have your hands full!" comments too, but those aren't the ones that make me smile and strive to be better.
Truly being in each moment and doing our best to enjoy it, even if it may be crazy and overwhelming and redundant and sort of terrible at times - to me, is one of the most important things we can do in our lives. Especially for mothers. Being a mom is hands DOWN the most difficult, under appreciated and under paid job out there!! To say it's all fun and joy and tender moments would just be a straight up lie. It's messy and frustrating. But it's oh, so amazing and ever important.
It's a constant goal of mine to "be" with my kids and try to enjoy them in each phase and stage they go through. I'm never perfect at it (that's for sure!!) but I really do try. A few weeks ago when the leaves began to fall, I caught all three outside raking. Of course the boys were taking orders from their leader, big sis. I grabbed my camera and snuck outside. These were taken with my 70-200 (non photogs read: huge and heavy zoom lens) so I could be super stealthy and they didn't realize I was out there for a bit.
Annnnnd... this was the point when they caught me spying on them. They have such opposite personalities. Can you tell?
They could live outside. If only that were possible because cleaning up after dinner would be so much easier. Ha!! All you mothers (and mother figures) out there, keep on being amazing!!! You're doing SUCH a great job.