Life as a Mom of 5

School recitals, doll parties, shows, games, silliness, I can't believe this is my stage in life.  As I write this, my baby Calvin is 6 weeks old and I have 5 young children in our home.  It's exhausting.  It's loud.  It's chaotic.  It's fun.  It's rewarding.  It's tiring.  It brings me joy.  It brings me frustration.  Bottle up every possible emotion and it's felt in our house numerous times a day.  I wouldn't change any of this for the world.  Even when I start to feel overwhelmed and stressed out, I just have to remind myself how blessed I am, in the ultimate sense, to have this family.  My kids are amazing.  Although they can get under my skin, I am so in love with them.

 Camryn and Brooklyn are my little mamas.  They help me so much.  If I ever need anything done or need help with the little kids, they don't hesitate.  It's done.  They always get their homework and practicing done and they do well at it.  Brooklyn is usually a little more business while Camryn is usually squirming and ready to play.  Their personalities are different, but they get along so well.  Brooklyn is my over achiever.  If she's given a challenge, she's got it done in no time!  She practices piano, backwalkovers, splits and dance every chance she gets.  She does NOT like to be wrong....she may be my future lawyer.  She is obedient and does not like to disappoint us.  Camryn still loves to be silly.  She loves to care for her siblings and they really look up to her.  Although she needs a few reminders to focus on her homework and practicing to get it done...she always does.  She writes the most loving notes to her parents, Sean, Grandparents, teachers and more.  She has a mature soul.  Kendyl is our free spirit.  Sometimes she'll disappear for an hour and we'll find her in the bathroom singing and playing with a doll.  She has a hard time going to sleep at night because she just wants to talk and talk.  She has a mind of her own, but she's a good girl at heart.  She loves to give me hugs and tell me, "I love you, mom" about 100 times a day.  She can be fiesty, but anyone that meets her can't help but love her.  She's become a flexible little thing who loves dance.  She too is very smart and her preschool teacher loves her.  Nixon is the most awesome 2 year old you'll ever meet.  He's so funny.  He loves to quote movies.  "Dori says..." "Belt says, da da daaaa!" "Turbo says, now that's a new one" and the list goes on and on.  He loves to make people laugh and he's so good at it.  He's obedient and loving and sometimes we forget he's only 2.  He's potty trained during the day.  He LOVES Calvin.  He loves to get in his face and say, "Hi, hi, hi" in the highest little voice.  He likes to say, "He's cute mom.  He's my wittle bwother". It melts my heart every time.  His smile is to die for.  He loves to show people his somersaults.  He loves us to read him stories.  He LOVES treats and doesn't love his meals.  He loves playing games on my phone.  He LOVES playing with Hudson and being silly with him....oh man those two are funny together.  He wants to wear what HE wants to wear and throws a fit if we make him wear something else.  Calvin loves to eat, cry, poop, and sleep (unless mom and dad are trying to sleep....then he'll be awake and whining).

I love these little people and I love spending my day taking care of them.  Cleaning, cooking, driving to school and lessons, helping with homework, cleaning again.  Sometimes I feel sorry for myself and wonder if I'll ever get time for myself.  I love spending time with Nic and wish we could get away, just the 2 of us, more often...but it's ok, I'm happy and I know that there are wonderful, beautiful things in store.  I just need to remind myself of that during the day when I start to lose my patience :)  We are very blessed in so many ways.  We definitely have our trials and sometimes I don't know how I'm going to last one more day... but we seem to get past those moments and find happiness in the next day.

Nic is my rock.  Sounds so cliche, but it's the truth.  I'm happy when he's happy, and down when he's down.  He is an amazing example to our children. He plays with them, helps them, reads to them, tucks them in. He is so good to me.  He is my perfect match.  We are best friends and we just seem to get each other. That doesn't mean that things are always perfect, because we're human, but we're close ;)

I don't want to write about the negative feelings that can sometimes consume me when things get tough.  I always manage to escape those moments quickly, but sometimes the stress of life can leave you feeling dark and miserable.  That's just what life does to us I guess.  It's hard.  Sometimes I get jealous of other people's seemingly perfect lives and can't figure out why we haven't been blessed with the same things they have.  But then I remind myself of the greatest blessings I could ever have, Nic, Brooklyn, Camryn, Kendyl, Nixon and Calvin, and I realize that my life is pretty dang good and may even look perfect to some people.  And although it's not perfect, I know I've been blessed beyond measure and I'm grateful for every day I have with these people.  This is the life I always dreamed of having....how did I get so lucky?