Be Grateful

 Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have a toddler in the house.

Only two-legged creatures here!  Little D has been walking for weeks now, taking several steps at a time, but this last week (after recovering from her sickness) she's decided it's the only way to travel!  It's adorable.

A moment about my baby.  She very well may likely (how's that?) be our last.  And she's becoming more and more not a baby every day, so I've been thinking a lot about lasts.  I put her baby clothes away when she's grown too big for them and I think, "this may be the last time a baby of mine wears this."  or "we need to use up every last size 2 diaper because we may never have a bum that size again."  You got it, right?  I've been having a hard time giving up nursing.  Daisy doesn't have much patience for nursing right now, there are way too many things going on that distract her.  I know my nursing days are numbered.  This makes me sad, because I absolutely love that time with my sweet babe.  And then I saw a quote that goes something like this:  Don't be sad it's ending, be grateful it happened.  Oh, perspective!  I needed some of you!  I am so grateful!  I got to nurse my baby for a year, and it was wonderful!  I got to nurse five babies!  How blessed am I!  I will always have a place in my heart for new babies.  My favorite five moments in my whole life is when I held MY babies in my arms for the first time.  I believe that's just something that women crave. I'm pretty sure it's hard-wired into us.  Why do you think all the Relief Society sisters get all excited and smiley when you sit next to them with a babe in your arms?  They still feel it.  We all feel a sadness when our babies grow up.  That's part of being a mom.  You know what though?  There are a whole lot of things to look forward to, and I'm excited about those things too.  Like, I don't know, kids buckling themselves in the car?  That will be an exciting day.

Anyway, I feel the summer days flying by.  We don't go out and do a whole lot, mostly because of the buckling issue above.  Ok, that may not be entirely true.  What IS true is that five little kids running around anywhere with only me to chase them?  That is stress for me, and it's usually just not worth it.  Not to mention my babies nap, and interrupting that time leads to more stress for us all.  So, my poor kids make a whole lot of their own entertainment.

They do ok though.

Ellie is going to an art class taught by a neighbor girl.  She loves it.  She came home and tried to share her knowledge with her siblings.  It didn't exactly go as she had planned, but I thought it was pretty awesome.

The girls were using windows for some tracing:

 I love watching them come up with imaginative, fun things to do.  And they really play pretty well together.  I'm grateful for that.  They fight too, of course, but they are also best friends.

We aren't entirely boring parents.  We took a picnic to Bridal Veil Falls.

My five little rugrats:

Oh, look, a somewhat normal photo of me!

You and I both know that couldn't possibly last.

 Look at Daisy's red nose!  It was a chilly evening, and I don't think she liked the cool air much.

The big kids didn't seem to mind splashing through the freezing water though:

 I'm pretty sure that was the exact moment Everett thought he saw a crocodile in the water and came booking it out.  Pretty funny.

And one more random pic that makes me giggle:

 Maren thought to put a bib on Daisy, which was good.  Three bibs have to be better than one, no?  :)

Kids, I tell ya, what an adventure.