Same picture, but things have changed!!

The other day I was looking through pictures and came across some pictures of Kaylee with Nicole and Taylor as infants. I realized she had posed the same way in both pictures and she also had one with Blake.

It made me think about life with 2 kids, than 3 kids, and now 4 kids.

Things seemed so simple back when I just had Kaylee and Nicole..not too many worries. We were still students and I was in full stay at home with kiddos mode. I was the mother of little kids and loved it!! We worried about nap time, snacks, staying in bed at night, art projects, coloring, going to the park, going on bike rides, runs, hanging laundry on the line outside our duplex, going to the zoo or children's museum, and cooking dinner while Kaylee sat in the kitchen sink and Nicole sat in her bouncer. When I stretched out my arms, I could touch both walls of the kitchen. It was so tiny, so Kaylee logically sat in the sink and played in the water while I did anything in the kitchen.  A lot of the law students and dental students lived on the same street or very close to each other.  Friends were made immediately and many weekends were spent walking back and forth between neighbors homes.  It was a wonderful time!!

When Taylor was born, we were living in our first home and Warren was an orthodontist.  How quickly things changed.  I remember thinking when I lived in that little duplex ,"It will be so nice once I have a bigger kitchen, or once I have my own home."  I was finally there, but I don't know why I was so anxious.  Having a home brought on a lot of responsibilities and officially...adulthood!!  I loved having my own home and enjoyed decorating it with the small amount of money we had.  We furnished our home with a lot of hand me downs and our first Christmas consisted of 3 little trees with home made decorations, and a Charlie Brown tree we cut from the forest.  For the longest time, our front room was completely empty.  Kaylee and Nicole loved running around and riding their bikes in the unfinished basement, and setting up their home in the empty front room.  They also loved playing in the dirt which would eventually become our yard.  I spent many hours with the girls making mud pies, very pregnant, and shoveling wood chips, rocks, and mulch.  I was still considered the mother of small children and we were all at home...happily spending our days coloring, learning how to read, watching "The Wiggles" and Barbie movies.

Now we have sweet little Blake and things have changed a ton, once again. I am still the mother of small children, but elementary aged children. I no longer see myself as the young mom, or recently graduated from school mom.  I am the middle aged mom!!   Kaylee is in 4th grade, Nicole is in 1st grade, and Taylor is in Pre-K.  They spend more time at school or other activities, than at home. I am the crazy mom running from one place to the next bringing along a cute little friend.  Our front room is completely full now with office gear, the basement is now fully furnished, and we just bought a new couch after having our old one for 13 years.  CRAZY!!  I love our house and our neighborhood which is now full of homes.  I spend my days taking care of a new baby along with helping my girls in school, ballet, swimming, tying shoes, reading, math, etc.  Where did the days go of painting for 3 hours, riding bikes in the house, gluing random paper cutouts on paper and ourselves, bubble baths or playing in the bathtub to pass the time away, and singing the ABCs or "The Wheels on the Bus" while I drove around in the car.  We now listen to Lady GaGa, Maroon 5, Lady Antebellum, etc.  Poor Blake...

I sometimes wonder why I was so anxious to have the girls grow up or start doing things besides screaming as you left the grocery store.  I now look back on those days laughing, and crying while I remember how simple things were.  I know life is going to get more and more complicated, but having my little baby boy has sure made me look at things a little differently.  I am enjoying everything about him.  His giggles, his cries, his soft little fingers, his long eyelashes, his constant wiggling.  Don't get me wrong...he is still a baby and there are always challenges with infants, but my perspective has changed.  I know all of this will be over pretty quick and things that used to stress me out about having an infant...not so much any more.  I feel like my family is complete and things are good in the world.  I love being the middle aged mom with maturing children and a sweet little Babe to join our fun.  A lot of things have changed over the past 10 years since Kaylee was born and a lot more will change over the next 10 years...but I hope I can enjoy each moment and not be in such a hurry to have things differently.  It will be a challenge and I am not perfect.  I will have moments of discouragement, disappointment, and stress...but I hope I can look back when I am the mother of teenage daughters and a little Cub Scout and say, "I am so blessed to be a mother."