Living in the "sweet spot"

Taken in August 2009



As a mother I've learned to embrace and find joy in every stage of my children's lives. To be honest though some days are better than others. Having a pre-teen in the house is the biggest challenge right now and believe me when I say it would take another whole blog post just for and explanation of that. Overall my children are little bundles of joy that I am always glad to see....rather they've been at school all day and I'm picking them up or even in the morning when I've gone all night without seeing their sweet little faces. My kids are my world and they drive me to accomplish things without even knowing it. They truly make every sacrifice worth it a million times over.

With every year that passes I see the fruits of Brady and I's labors so to speak. When I have teachers, friends, and even random people at the grocery store tell me how great my children are.....Well I honestly know that my heart is smiling indeed! Our kids are all three amazing in their own little ways BUT the thing that makes me the most proud is the fact that Brady and I have always put aside our differences and gave our children a solid rock on which to stand. They're all confident (not conceited), they all love God passionately and have grown up among a very large church family that invests in them. They are smart....every parent says that but my kids really are smart! I'm biased but trust me! Most importantly they all have the most beautiful souls. They love different things but when they love something or someone it's with their whole heart....passionately and fiercely! They are all so beautiful in their own little ways and I'm so proud and honored that God chose Brady and I to parent these three amazing little people.

I've come to the conclusion that our family is currently in what I like to refer to as the "sweet" spot. Sweet because gone are the days of daily nap schedules, packing diaper bags, finding a place to change a poopy diaper, trying to decide how many bottles to bring...ETC. The list goes on and on. On one hand I truly miss the days of being "needed" but I know I will always be needed but in a different way. Also sweet because we can take the kids on a whim to Chicago like we did a few weekends ago and we don't have to worry about where they'll sleep...what we will eat....pushing a stroller...ECT. We're truly free at this point in our lives to do really fun things with the kids that they enjoy as well. I'm LOVING the sweet spot and am conscious everyday that one day we will face different kinds of challenges as a family and like we always have we will get through them but for now I'm going to kick back and enjoy our "little sweet spot!"

Taken in November 2012.....my how they've grown!