Sweet Moments

I had a sweet moment this morning after dropping the big boys off at school.  I had just pulled into the driveway and was getting out of the car.  She was being very cute and getting her "pretties" (necklaces) out of the car too.  I lifted her out and turned around to see an old woman walking by.  I waved and said Hello and she said the same.  Then with a big, happy smile she said, "You have already put in a full days work."  I smiled and said "It sure feels like it sometimes!"  We both laughed and went on our way.  But, what a sweet woman to acknowledge the hard work that mothers do every day. My pregnancy hormones are raging and it made me feel a little swell of confidence. 
  I know that a lot of people think that Jeremy and I are dumb for having a big family.  To those looking in, it seems as though we are overwhelmed, annoyed, outnumbered, confused, and so on a so forth.  Which is all true.  But, most people don't get to see the quiet, precious moments that we have with all of our children.  They don't get to see the joy and pride we have in them when they accomplish something new. They aren't there at night when we read stories and say prayers with each of them.  It is heavenly for a few minutes at a time.  Most people don't get to see the silly times that we have or the wrestling and laughing that goes on in our home.  They don't get to see the kids playing with each other and the sibling love that they have for each other.  As much as we want to move and get a bigger house, some of the best moments in our lives take place in our home.
I remember way back in the day when I just had an 20 month old Tristan home and a newborn Cedric.  I hated leaving them places to be babysat. I was obsessed with being their mom.  And always put the kids needs first.  When we lived in Salt Lake City, we didn't leave Tristan anywhere at all until he was 9 months old.  We left him with my brother, Mike and his wife.  I cried and cried.  We only left him for two hours and it felt like years!! lol! We never wanted to be apart from them.  And we still don't.  Even when we leave them overnight somewhere, as much as we enjoy the quiet alone time, we are usually talking about our kids over dinner!  Or laughing with each other about the silly things they do. We can't wait to see them again, even when they are driving us bonkers. 
I know, it may seem that sometimes we are itching to leave them with babysitters every chance we can get....which may be true sometimes, haha!  We are completely different parents now than we were when we started.  And that is not a bad thing.  We learned very early on that as much as we love our children dearly, we have to let them go sometimes.  That we have to focus on each other almost more than the children....or there is no hope for our family.  We have been fortunate to stay each other's best friend for 15 years now.  That is not an easy thing to do in this day and age.  And our children see that.  It's something I want them to have when they are older and ready.  Jeremy and I are a team.   We have to tackle it together or we are going to fall apart.  It is so worth it.  Some may think I am too reliant on my husband or vise versa.  To that I say, Hogwash!  We may a conscience decision to tackle parenting TOGETHER. Not, one person makes the money, one person raises the kids.  I applaud the moms or dads that do it day in and day out by themselves.  But, it just wouldn't work for our family.  And we wouldn't want it to work.  I know we wouldn't have the same relationship if we tackled it differently.  
I think we are some of the luckiest parents on the planet!  We have super duper children that challenge us on every level and help us learn and grow as much as we help them learn and grow.  I LOVE my huge, crazy, perfect family.  And as hard as it is, I wouldn't exchange the family memories for anything.  Period.