Golden Moments

You know the funny thing about me working? I think I'm actually a better mom more of the time now! I'm more conscious of what I'm doing with my kids when we're together and I'm trying harder not to lose my temper so often. Although that doesn't always work out. In fact the other day I had my first, "Stop yelling at each other or I'll stop this van right now!!!!" moment. It was monumental, but I'm glad I don't have anything to really document it. It was ugly. I also feel like I'm running around lots more, and I'm not a huge fan of it. I'm already wondering how all the moms out there with multiple older kids, and all their schedules do it. ??? Props to you guys. I cherish our time at home together more, and now when we have a "boring" day where we don't leave the house all day, I just revel in it, which didn't always used to be the case. I guess all of this rambling to say, I think my kids are cute. :) I'm glad they're mine and that when I've had a hard day, I can sneak into their rooms at night to make sure they're warm enough and watch them sleep for a minute or two. It always calms me right down and makes me exceptionally grateful.

Gwen's obsessed with babies. She's always carting them around, putting them in their crib and piling every single blanket on top of them. If you look closely you can see her purse. Another favorite accessory.



The other day I had a golden moment with Gwen. She woke up from nap time just beaming. Miles wasn't awake yet and I was trying to watch a show of mine, so I convinced her to snuggle up to me so I could finish watching it. Her cheeks were so round and rosy and warm. We just cuddled and tickled for a good 20 minutes. It was awesome. Why don't I let myself have moments like that more often?

The other morning, Gwen found her sunglasses and insisted on eating her cream of wheat and toast with them on. Miles wanted in on the camera action and knew just how to do it. Lots of kissing and hugging between siblings is a favorite of mine. The other day I was rounding up the kids from their classes and when Miles and Gwen saw each other the hugged and kissed (with no prompting from me, mind you) and Miles gave her lots and lots of compliments about her artwork from the day. Pay day!



Cousins Ethan and Caleb came over the the other day for some music time and it's fun watching them really start to play with each other. Gwen and Ethan hopped into her baby's crib and laughed and talked for a good 10 minutes. Miles got in on the action and pulled his first ever funny face! Gwen and Miles practically mauled baby Caleb with loves,kisses, piling blankets on him and holding him on their laps. Can you blame them? Look at that cutie!



So amid those times when I'm rolling my eyes and trying so hard not to totally lose it, there are those really special moments. Tonight while getting the kids ready for bed, they were really grumpy because of a lack of nap. When that happens, there is no rational reasoning, there is only sobbing, back-arching, and whining. It causes my angry level to escalate really fast, and pretty soon I was getting up in Miles' face, being a nasty mom. Throwing his pajamas back at him because he wouldn't choose, but didn't like anything I chose. Forcing the toothbrush in his mouth because he refused to brush his teeth, and dragging him into his room, literally. Ugliness. But after we had all calmed down a little, dad put Gwen in bed, and I had time to apologize to Miles for my meanness. He begged me to cuddle with him in his bed, which doesn't happen very often. Although I wanted to come back to the computer to blog and eat some chocolate chips, I grudgingly obliged, because truth be told, my blood was still boiling a little bit. However I'm so glad I did because I had another golden moment! He wrapped his arms around my neck and that perfect, smooth cheek of his fit right on the bridge of my nose. We gave each other butterfly kisses and eskimo kisses, and I thought of how quickly he won't want to do this with me anymore, and we snuggled for one more minute.