Motherhood...the good, the bad and the ugly!

Motherhood...it's one of those things I always dreamed of doing...as a kid I enjoyed playing "house", loving on my dolls and pretending...it was to the extent that whenever my Meemaw came for a visit she would take me to the store and buy real diapers and premie clothes for me to use on my baby dolls! Well, fast forward twenty or so years and I'm living in a real house filled with a loving husband, three precious children and of course Tucker (the dog) who rounds out the picture! I have a GREAT life, it's truly been more than I could have dreamed of! Getting the priviledge to be Adam's wife has been more then a dream come true, He had (and still has) all the qualities I'd always written down on my list of "must-have's" for a husband; God truly has blessed me and I'm a better person because of him! Each of my sweet little guys, have been an answer to my prayers as well...they're perfect representations of God's fearfully and wonderfully made creations! I keep being reminded of how quickly the time with them is flying, the saying "these times are the longest days but the shortest years" pretty well sums it up!

All that said, I must admit that I never realized just how hard these days would be. As a teenager, I loved to babysit and enjoyed doing "housewife" chores, after I'd put the kids to bed I'd straighten up the house, wash dishes and make sure that everything was in its right place before the parents came back. I never realized how judgemental I was toward Mom's who's homes were in disarray when I would arrive to babysit...I always thought..."man, if I was having someone sit for me I'd at least put the dishes and dirty clothes away! And all the boxes of snackey stuff (Goldfish, CheezIts, etc) couldn't they manage to put it back in the pantry before the sitter arrived? And those kids, couldn't they have thought to put a clean t-shirt on their children and wiped their faces off?

Well, we recently had our first night out since moving to Bham and I now know why things were the way they were when I'd arrive to babysit...that poor Mama was doing her dead level best and something had to give...it sure did for me at least. All day long I seemed to pick up and re-pick up toys, sweep and re-sweep under the kitchen table all the while trying to keep the boys clean, and get myself a shower and dressed by the time Emily arrived, because we all know that time is money and if you're not dressed when the sitter arrives, you're paying her while you're there and that's no good! Anyway, I have to say that I fully comprehend and understand now, how hard it can be to "prep" for a sitter to come to your house: to have the house picked up, kids clean, pizza ordered and picked up, fresh cookies sitting out for dessert, kids pjs/diapers/blankies set out and have yourself all dressed and put together...so to all those momma's I judged, please, please forgive me!

Here are some pictures of our night out and my messy and disshelved home...I did however manage to get it all picked up, have the kids clean and myself dressed and presentable before Emily arrived...I was exhausted by the time I sat down in the car with Adam though! We did have a lovely time! We went to a Japanese restaurant (which is always fun) and then went shopping! We had a great time just being together!