They try to be just like mommy. They write little tiny characters all over every square inch of paper, making a list just like mommy. They take half the clothes off the hangers in my closet, parading around in my shoes and shirts, looking just like mommy. They jabber away on their toy cell phones,…
The sunlight streamed through the window on the first Saturday afternoon in April. My daughters and nieces were at my feet, the golden threads of their “Chinese princess dresses” glistening in the sun. Their antics were the only thing that kept me from needing to use the Kleenex I’d wrapped around my bouquet. To my…
Two-year-old Mary Kate beats us to the punch: “Not. Tided.” she announces with punctuated finality. “Tided” of course is “tired”. And she’s most definitely not “tided”, since rubbing the eyes, fussing, whining, and nearly falling asleep at the table are all not signs of being “tided.” I’ll be the first to admit that I’m tided,…
“I picking up so very well.” Mary’s statement is meant to draw attention approval. Even though she’s just grabbing everything scattered all over the floor and stacking it on the diaper bags that I have yet to put away. At least she’s trying. It’s better than stumbling on the toys that so often litter the…
It was in every single book and blog post I was reading. From the the Mahaney ladies’ 5 AM Club in Shopping for Time to Anne Ortlund committing to meet with God in the wee morning hours in Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman. I knew I needed to get up earlier—to meet with God, to…
“There’s more to life than increasing it’s speed.” Little ones grow up. The seasons race by. I’m learning lately the importance of living in the moment, not living in the next item on my to-do list. So I set my timer for the unimportant things. I race through them to get on to that which…
Sometimes I think it’s the rain and the clouds that get to me. Sometimes I know it’s the lack of sleep. Too often it’s the overdose of sugar and caffeine. And naturally, that huge pile of laundry and the overflowing counter of dishes has nothing to do with it. But some days, I just don’t…
Every mom knows you have to take advantage of naptime. And in our house, we still have two naptimes per day. Not everyone necessarily falls asleep in the morning, but it’s quiet rest time—and that’s my power hour. (Afternoon naptime is my own version of rest time: writing time!) Getting things accomplished during naptime has…
The ordinary, everyday brings me to tears sometimes with its very routine-ness. The over and again, rinse and repeat, wake up and do it all over again laundry and dishes and what to eat. The toys that will always get strewn everywhere and be tripped over. And the girlish joyful exuberance that will wake a…
The shelf beside my chair is full of books inspiring me to do. But into Google Reader and my Facebook feed yesterday morning came two links inspiring me to be. While the one downloaded, I read the other. Lisa-Jo’s words seem so often to be written just for me these days: I don’t need to…
My daughters have split personalities right now. They spend their days dressing and playing the part of either Nurse Nancy (from the Little Golden Book) and Nurse Carol (from Curious George Goes to the Hospital) or Cinderella and The Ugly Step-Sister. And last night, apparently they were switching personalities so quickly that one of Cinderella’s…
“When’s a good time to call?” Several friends have asked me the same question recently. I suppose my lack of response has answered as well as I could have. When is a good time to call a mom of little people? In the morning when she’s getting breakfast on the table and laundry in the…
The End.
The End.