everyday life

10 things i have learned while driving.

~ raisingafewawesomehumans ~ Leave a comment

70 miles in a day.

10 – adele, justin timberlake and drake are playing at any given moment on any station. thank goodness for the alt nation sirius radio station.

9 – tutoring while driving ; it’s a real skill set. go ahead, give me a number to round, a problem to estimate, word to define … and if common core gets the best of us, we ask siri.

8 – kids legs touching one another is similar to falling into a portapotty ; at least i am guessing based on the reaction of my wild ones.

note the spaces in between

7 – mcdonalds really does have THEEE best crispest coldest diet dr pepper there is. and for $1.06, its a dose of heavenly goodness. this mama needs her cold one.

6 – benny singing along to his favorite song can stop any complaint, boredom or woe others may have. #handclap it induces a smile one can’t deny.

​5 – for my protection and well cause i love them, i must be prepared with snacks and water at all times. i will have a herd of hangries on my hands if not.4 – this won’t be how i spend my afternoons forever. this isn’t what i will always do. enjoy it. gasp, one day they will be driving themselves to and fro.

3 – an empty water bottle (there’s usually one or two near by) is a pretty good flying vessel to break up two or more know it alls in the back seat.

2 – family sing a longs are therapy. especially as we practice our british accents while singing out chitty chitty bang bang songs.

1 – i love hearing from them. who they sat by at lunch, what made them laugh, how they learned, when friends weren’t true and when friends were truer than true. i love that we have somewhat undivided time together right when school is out. i learn everyday from them, as we drive and drive.

nearly 70 miles every day.

how do you find joy in this season?

 

savor.

~ raisingafewawesomehumans ~ 3 Comments

“mom, will you carry me to bed?”

he asked me this as i was holding him, staring into his eyes. i had just asked him if he knew he was now four and a half years old. he giggled and said “no, i am not. wait is it true?”

and then it hit me.

when your heart stops for a moment while it processes.

the anxiety kicks in.

when my role as a mom no longer be what it has been for over 10 years.

already: it has changed. there are so many tasks, the ones that threaded my days together, that i don’t do. there are no bottles being made. no diapers being changed, thrown out to the garage to be taken to the trash can. no babies needing a gentle bath after yet, another explosion. no testing of the baby food to see what their favorites would be. i’ll tell you what no one hated baby peas like miss kadence and she loves them like candy now. no more getting little humans dressed : like little dolls who have amazing high kicks and ninja moves. there are a few daily tasks that passed and i wasn’t sad to see move on…like the hours spent trying to consul a colicky baby boy. or the wet sheets in the night. or running out of diapers or formula at the most convenient times. 11 pm or 5 am. wait, was that only us? as i type this “cry me a riverrrrr” plays thru my head. i will JT. i will cry a river over my babies being so freaking old.

so when does it happen? when does this creeping transition take place? i don’t know. but it is sneaky, really sneaky. the same kind of sneaky when a certain now 9 year old wakes up before the rest of the house and sneaks a few chocolate chip granola bars into his room. when i awake i have no idea. it isn’t for a few days till i notice a wrapper or piece of one poking out of a drawer … that sneaky bugger.

a few things i am holding onto still. dedicated to savor. to enjoy:

being woke up every morning but a little voice and footsteps : somewhere between that of an elephant and a puppy. the request “can i snug wich you?” a refill of water- there will be a day, not too far away, that i am sure no one will need a cup water filled by their mom. until that day i will be grateful to help out with such a task. the excitement one has when they finished a chapter in their current book. the “you have got to come and see this mom!” those vary from how cute the dogs look cuddled on the couch, to a four hundred piece lego creation. every day there is a lot of “you gotta see this”.  and guess what? sometimes i had just sat down and i don’t really wanna get up at that moment. well i am resolving to change that attitude.

while it continues to change and evolve, my heart grows more in love with these awesome humans. i hope to be able to find the joy in this stage of parenting. to have no regrets. tis not the easiest of tasks somedays.

here i am, mother of an 11 year old, two 9 year olds, a six year old and 4 year old. now missing : the time we had three cribs, went thru hundreds of diapers a month, multiple 5 point harness system car seats at one time…i hope to have a few more requests “mom, will you carry me to bed?”

just to be able to say YES! 

 

when i was taking too many pictures

~ raisingafewawesomehumans ~ Leave a comment

over the course of the last several years i have often thought –

“i am taking too many photos” or “don’t post this” or “stop it, enough”

 but then facebook memories became a midnight thrill. yes, midnight. facebook reminds me of days gone past. photos of my children as wee babes. funny moments. tender moments. crazy moments. and that is when i think “i didn’t take ENOUGH photos”.

you know what i mean? like who i was worried about when i thought “i am taking too many photos”. too many photos of my favorite humans?! too many photos of what our lives are made of?! pish posh.

turns out my heart aches each night i look thru my days pictures on my phone and notice i didn’t take any. that happens now. it didn’t use to. in fact some days i took 100’s. HUNDREDS. and now i am lucky if i find a few. 

so I’m prepping for remembering and taking oodles ~ dare I say, too many pictures of our days.